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Story: Oil and gas

Sandstone

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Sandstone

This sandstone outcrop at the mouth of the Whanganui Inlet in Golden Bay is known by geologists as Farewell Formation. Highly porous and permeable, it is an ideal reservoir rock for oil and gas. These types of rock have been successfully tapped in Taranaki, and oil and gas have been extracted from them.

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GNS Science

Reference: CN40795/24

by Lloyd Homer

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Roger Gregg and Carl Walrond, Oil and gas – How oil and gas form, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/8912/sandstone (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Roger Gregg and Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2009.