Govt Kills $50m Maari Oil Field Deal with Foot-Dragging
November 9, 2022
Jadestone Energy and OMV have agreed to terminate a deal for Jadestone to acquire 69 percent of the Maari oil field off the coast of Taranaki.
The $50 million deal was agreed in 2019, but has been caught up in regulatory changes designed to make sure companies can manage oil and gas wells through to decommissioning.
In a statement on its website, Jadestone - a second-tier oil and gas player headquartered in Singapore - said due to a lack of progress on regulatory approval, and the resultant uncertainty, the companies had reluctantly decided to terminate the transaction.
Jadestone president and chief executive Paul Blakeley said with the current license expiring in 2027 there was not enough time to confidently invest in Maari and it was time to move on.