New Zealand’s Geological and Nuclear Sciences and the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technical Research yesterday signed the agreement which paves the way for joint research on oil and gas exploration, geothermal energy development, and the study of earthquakes and volcanoes.
GNS chief executive Alex Malahoff and CONICYT president Eric Goles said Chile and New Zealand shared many of the same opportunities and challenges in natural resources and geological hazards. because of their similar geology.
An initial focus would be geothermal development, as Chile needed more electricity to power economic growth and was keen to investigate its untapped geothermal prospects. There would also be joint research projects in oil and gas exploration, plus studies of offshore frozen methane deposits (gas hydrates), Malahoff said.
Both Chile and New Zealand had substantial deposits of gas hydrates off their coasts and a joint research project would investigate a number of areas, including overcoming the challenges in extracting commercial quantities of hydrates from beneath the sea floor.
GNS spokesman John Callan told EnergyReview.Net that the parties were keen to move beyond just good intentions and start jointly working on specific projects at an early stage.
