Maari Partners have continued a successful run in the offshore Taranaki basin with another oil strike announced on the ASX last week.

Horizon Oil (HZN), a 10% partner, announced the M2A appraisal well (the MR9 well) had been drilled to 3,048 metres and the M2A zone was likely to contain between 30 million to 40 million barrels, about a quarter of the oil in place in the primary Moki zone.

It also takes the recoverable reserves to much more than the 12 million barrels Horizon previously estimated for the zone.

The latest strike is the third in the permit for the partners, headed by OMV NZ (69%), Todd Maari (16%), Horizon Oil (10%) and Cue Taranaki (5%). The group is already pumping 40,000 barrels a day.

The statement said the MR9 well was set up to access the M2A Sandstone, but an estimate of those recoverable reserves would not be known until production data had been obtained for the MR9 and a development plan was established.

The well would be used intermittently when capacity allowed, as the processing facility was already at full capacity from the five Moki producers.