The Kotuku oil seeps on the South Island are considered the most significant of its type in New Zealand. Junior board company Widespread Energy now has a rig on site to drill a test bore.

Talks on the two South Island ports for Dunedin and Christchurch on a merger proposal have been sounding like a cracked record. Well, the stylus still seems to be in the groove but the speed hasn’t changed.

Eastern Corporation may be placing a stronger focus on its New Zealand coal operations after moving to sell a Queensland project to stem its latest operating loss that would have been worse had it not gone into NZ earlier this decade.

Cue Energy must thank its stars that it never left New Zealand, as its stake in the now operating Maari field was the prime factor behind a profitable December half year.

John Key this week presented his science awards for the year - a healthy acknowledgement of the scientific achievements being made in the country.

The risk and reward of drilling an expensive offshore well generally favour the downside, given that a major discovery is usually well short of being a 50% chance. McDouall Stuart looks at the upside and downside with the Hoki-1 well, now reportedly underway.

L&M Energy has wasted no time in getting into a significant coal seam gas drilling programme following the company’s merger with associated private company L&M Coal Seam Gas.

New Zealand has made a giant step forward on alternative energy with the opening of Solid Energy’s wood pellet plant at an industrial park at Taupo.

Gerry Brownlee loves the Maari oil field because of the impact it is having on the economy and the revenue it puts into Crown coffers.

The bleak North American winter has held up development of a lignite testing plant to develop high-rank briquettes but first processing of a consignment form Solid Energy’s South Island deposits should begin late this month or early next month.

In recent years Crown Minerals and GNS Science have spoken warmly about the potential of the Reinga Basin. This month GNS Science detailed some of the reasons why it is seen as one of the best frontier basin targets.

Pike River Coal Ltd’s continuing need for capital may have worn thin with some investors, but its major shareholder New Zealand Oil & Gas has come to the party but on terms that may suit its purpose – according to stockbroker McDouall Stuart.

There are high hopes for the consortium drilling the Hoki-1 well in the offshore Taranaki Basin. This well, now spudding, also carries the hopes for involved New Zealanders in the quest to find new oil discoveries.

With the closure of two separate capital raisings in Toronto and on the Australian Stock Exchange it is fair to say OceanaGold Corporation is now well cashed up to de-hedge, explore more vigorously and to sort out its problem Didipio copper-gold mine in the Philippines.

The Government-owned Meridian Energy is happy with its financial performance in the December half year but has joined the chorus of electricity and energy providers who are pushing for increases in customer tariffs.

Energy & Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee says the report relating to opening up crown land for exploration may be available by the end of this month.

Canadian Kent Exploration is showing it is keen to do business in New Zealand by releasing encouraging first-pass assays from its Lyell gold project after having similar success earlier at Alexander River near Reefton.

McDouall Stuart’s John Kidd has outlined just how active the quest for oil and gas onshore and offshore will be in the latter half of this financial year.

Can two Davids take on a Goliath? A Wellington stockbroker doesn’t know, but does know that Widespread Portfolios and Widespread Energy may need more financial clout than capital they can raise on the NZX.

The December half year was a period management of Solid Energy would like to forget but the company sees a clear light in the tunnel ahead with improving coal prices and operational initiatives.

The Terrace in Wellington is an impressive thoroughfare but for resource sector lobby group being housed there puts it close to the seat of power and major government departments.

A group that takes in energy providers and lines companies believes it is now well positioned in the provision of fibre broadband services to homes in a large slice of urban and rural New Zealand.

The seismic programme on part of a south Taranaki onshore permit has just been completed and the partners will now be looking at what might be drillable targets.

The known oil wells of the Tui project are in a production run-down but latest figures show that this offshore operation will achieve and perhaps overlap the 2009/10 target production.

The deal of the century Shell selling its equity in NZ Refining and its service stations in New Zealand? McDouall Stuart will run a rule over the bottom line purchase price for Infratil and NZ Super Funds before giving its verdict.

Diverse power utility Vector had a better half year to December and sees regulations as still a hurdle, prompting it to engage the Commerce Commission on price path methodologies.

The tempo of activity is lifting in the low profile quest for gold off the West Coast of the South Island and joining De Beers in the quest is AngloGold Ashanti, both linked to the Oppenheimer family. It sounds a better fit, given that De Beers has marine recovery technology but is into diamonds, while AngoGold Ashanti’s focus is purely gold.

One of the established technical consultants for the global mineral sands industry has been engaged to advance the economic potential of the Barrytown mineral sands deposits on the South Island-s West Coast.

Nautilus Minerals, which has a strong boardroom link to New Zealand, has strengthened its quest for seafloor massive sulphides in Papua New Guinea waters with more strong assay results.

There were no surprises with the official results for the December half year for Solid Energy, particularly after chief executive Don Elder some time earlier telegraphed the guidance fact that there would be a loss.

Back in Denver Colorado Newmont’s global management may view the Waihi gold operations as having been a nice little earner on tough times. That may have been the case after the disastrous gold plant fire last year but in the December quarter there was a healthy production catch up.

There were no surprises about Pike River Coal announcing another capital raising. The missing link had been the amount. Both the chief executive and at least mine mining analyst agreed, this had to be the last raising. [Includes presentation]

The offshore South Island quest for oil and gas gained a fillip this week when the big American petroleum producer and explorer Andarko Petroleum joined a quest for deep water targets off Dunedin.

The big State-owned power utility Genesis Energy had an impressive performance in the December 2009 half year helped by strictly monitored operating costs.

Auzex Resources Ltd, a company with one strong foot in Australia and the other in New Zealand will be losing its chief executive who will pursue other interests

The official financial results for OceanaGold painted a picture of no surprises with healthy factors including good cash operating costs, notably on the Frasers Underground mine. [Includes report]

It may be hard to comprehend NZOG incurring an operating loss, but a combination of factors, including participation in drilling new offshore wells, produced that result. [Includes presentation]

The wait is over for the two listed Widespread companies. They announced yesterday that Crown Minerals have granted them a large offshore lease on the Chatham Rise for phosphate.

An emerging Australian company keen on the international coal mining scene, has struck a joint venture with L&M Coal that may see it taking over that division of the L&M Group and seeking dual listing on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.