Wellington, Dec 22 NZPA - New Zealand Oil & Gas has lifted its stake in Australia's Pan Pacific Petroleum to just shy of the 15 percent level at which Australian foreign investment requirements kick in.

Last Wednesday NZOG announced it was building a strategic stake in Pan Pacific so as to increase its exposure to the attractive producing Tui area oilfields in offshore Taranaki.

NZOG has a 12.5 percent stake in Tui and Pan Pacific has 10 percent.

A notice to the sharemarket today showed NZOG had lifted its shareholding in Pan Pacific to 14.87 percent.

Australian Foreign Investment Review Board requirements restrict NZOG to a shareholding in Pan Pacific below 15 percent unless review board approval is received.

Last week NZOG spokesman Chris Roberts said the company had applied for that approval, as a matter of course, so it had the option to go up to 19.9 percent.