The owner of the country’s second-largest locally based oil and gas producer has got his hands full in challenging the government’s plan to ban new offshore exploration permits.
Mark Dunphy's Greymouth Petroleum, whose assets include the onshore Turangi, Onaero, Kowhai, Radnor and Ngatoro gas fields, believes the government's announcement last year halting further offshore block offers is unlawful. So Dunphy, who chairs the company and owns a 6.7% stake in it, has started court action.
According to Dunphy, the Crown Minerals Act requires the government to consult on any planned changes, which he claims it has not done. He also believes New Zealand does not have the reserves it needs to service local industries.
"I think people are coming to terms with the real problem, which is that New Zealand is short of gas,” he told BusinessDesk.
It’s not the only legal action the company has been involved in. It lost another court challenge against a decision requiring parts of its Taranaki onshore petroleum mining permit to be surrendered because crude oil wasn’t present. However, Dunphy said in a statement that decision had provided important clarity on how the dispute could be resolved.
A lawyer turned banker whose career took him from Australia to Ireland, Dunphy was previously chairman and shareholder of Fay Richwhite-controlled Cultus Petroleum and of Interstate Energy, which was sold in 2003.
Dunphy and wife Rosie are joint owners of Coal Pit winery in Gibbston Valley which produces world-class wines from its 12ha sustainably accredited vineyard and on-site winery, where only small volumes are produced annually.
2018: $220 million