One oil and gas exploration permit, off the southern Taranaki coast, has been approved by government permit agency New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals, amid mounting environmental pressure.
Environmental groups have been calling for the Government to take a harder line on oil and gas exploration, ranging from imposing a moratorium to not issuing any more permits and rescinding existing ones.
NZPM petroleum national manager Josh Adams said one exploration permit had been awarded to Westside New Zealand Ltd for the Block Offer 2017, for an area covering 547sq km off Taranaki’s coast.
"The petroleum industry is still dealing with the global downturn that began in late 2014, which is heavily influencing investment decisions, especially in exploration ventures," Mr Adams said.
A year ago, just one permit was granted by NZPM, to Todd Energy, while 24 permits were issued in the previous two years.
However, during the past 18 months oil companies Anadarko, Petrobras, Statoil and Mobil have pulled out of New Zealand, and Shell is still restructuring its New Zealand assets.
Following the announcement, Greenpeace campaigner Amanda Larsson said it had joined Forest & Bird, WWF-New Zealand and 350 Aotearoa to pen an open letter calling on the Government to end all new fossil fuel exploration.
"It’s very disappointing that the new Government’s bold statements about transforming New Zealand into a leader on climate have been contradicted by the awarding of a new permit to search for the fossil fuels that are driving climate change," Ms Larsson said.
"Science says we can’t burn most of the fossil fuel reserves that have already been discovered if we want a chance at avoiding catastrophic climate change. It makes no sense to search for more."
Before the NZPM announcement, Oil Free Wellington launched its campaign for a climate justice rally to shut down the Oil Summit in Wellington next March. New Zealand Oil & Gas holds permits off the coasts of Oamaru and Invercargill, but has yet to attract a joint-venture partner to foot the exploration costs.
• Since the annual block offers were launched in 2011, about $8.7 billion has been invested in oil and gas exploration and production in New Zealand.
