The Sydney-based company yesterday said it had been offered 100% of exploration permit T06-4 in the Bass Basin, off Tasmania.

The new permit, which Origin said was “highly prospective for gas”, is immediately south and west of its existing permit T/18P where the Trefoil and White Ibis gas discoveries lie.

Under the offer, Origin will be required to acquire 2D and 3D seismic and the drilling of an exploration well in the first three years of permit tenure.

Across the Tasman, the company said based on new seismic results, it believes an untested petroleum system may be developed in the deepwater areas of its 100%-owned permits in the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand.

Origin acquired the 1231km Carrack Seismic Survey in PEP 38262 in March 2006 and was granted adjacent permit PEP 38264 last November.

“Robust structural leads have been identified in both permits and these have the potential to hold very large volumes of oil and/or gas,” it said.

The company said it had contracted the seismic vessel CGG Duke to acquire additional 2D seismic data, with acquisition likely to begin next month.

Also in New Zealand, the company said the acquisition of a large 2D/3D seismic program over existing leads and prospects in permits PEP 38618 and PEP 38619 has begun, using the Pacific Titan vessel.

As of yesterday, acquisition of the 432 square kilometre Nimitz 3D seismic survey in PEP 38618 was more than 70% completed, it said.

The survey is expected to be followed by the 1902km Pantheon 2D seismic survey in the same permit, and the 1224km Akira 2D seismic in adjacent permit PEP 38619.

“Origin believes these areas are prospective for gas and in the event of exploration success, could help to alleviate New Zealand’s looming supply/demand shortfall,” the company said.

Meanwhile, Origin said it had successfully acquired the 3759km Lamu 2D seismic survey in its offshore Kenyan permits L8 and L9 utilising the seismic vessel Northern Explorer.

The company said seismic over some leads in its permits appear to be associated with direct hydrocarbon indications and processing of newly acquired seismic is expected to take at least four months to complete.

A decision must be made in the 2007 third quarter to enter the second additional period of these permits, which carry commitments to drill, it said.

“With interests being secured in new permits and new seismic becoming available for interpretation, we are entering a particularly exciting phase in the exploration of our more frontier assets,” executive general manager exploration Rob Willink said.

“The potential for very large oil and gas discoveries has been identified, but as always, we remain conscious of the geological risk and high cost associated with exploration, in particularly in our deeper water areas.

“To this end, we have commenced a process of attracting experienced partners to participate in forward activities in these areas.”