However, it must be remembered there were long lead-in times to many of the projects off the coast of New Zealand and investment decisions were years in the making.
''These decisions are not made overnight. Some projects can't stop, some will stop and those in the early development stage may be postponed while they wait to see how the price of oil recovers.''
Brent crude oil went below $US53 ($NZ69) a barrel yesterday and US crude went below $US50 a barrel for the first time since 2009.
It was likely gas exploration off the coast of Otago would proceed because those projects had been planned for a long time and it took years to schedule rigs to get there, he said.
''The industry is not that nimble and it can't react straight away. And the bigger players have to keep investing.
''At some stage, they will expect the oil price to recover. It just doesn't appear that will happen anytime soon.''
