The corporate state's plan for New Zealand

This IS the response of this government - the corporate state - to Peak Oil.

We can look forward to the wholesale plunder of our country's resources to sell off to foreign corporations.

One of the main principles of corporate power is to privatise the profits and socialise (put onto the population) the ecological and other costs.

Make no mistake, the first article illustrates the nature of the corporate state (or fascism) - the melting-together of state and corporate power, so it is difficult to distinguish one from the other

As the article says fracking forms the basis of this plunder.

Fracking the basis of oil and gas boom

Up to nine rigs are likely to be drilling simultaneously in Taranaki this year as the exploration industry ramps up its search for new supplies of oil and gas – and every well will be fracked.

Stuff, 4 February, 2012

The rigs will be all over the region – north as far as Waikawau, south as far as Manutahi and west to the Maui field – in an exploration effort that promises to create hundreds more jobs and put millions into the Taranaki economy.

Already there has been major success. Todd Energy is so confident it has discovered new gas in its Mangahewa field near Tikorangi that it has already signed an $850 million supply contract with methanol producer Methanex, and a little further north Greymouth Petroleum is strongly rumoured to have a major gas strike in its Onaero field.

Many of the new wells aren't actually new at all, but are re-entries of previously drilled exploration wells. However, this time the success is being achieved because of a new technique – fracking.

Hydraulic fracturing involves drillers pumping fluid containing some form of "proppant" – usually medium-grained sand or small ceramic pellets, into the well at high pressure, causing small fractures in the oil or gas-bearing reservoir. Then when the pressure eases, the proppant remains in the fractures, keeping them open and allowing the oil or gas to flow more easily.

This technique is causing controversy all over the world, including New Zealand. But the energy industry maintains it is safe, tightly controlled and environmentally sound. And the explorers say fracking is a major reason why oil and gas production is pouring millions of dollars into the New Zealand economy.

Last financial year oil and gas royalties contributed $384.5million to the economy, said Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand chief executive David Robinson in New Plymouth yesterday.

"And when you add direct taxes to that figure, it goes up to more than $1 billion a year," he said.

"The message is that unless the energy industry is able to continue exploring and bring new commercial finds into production, a lot of national income will disappear," he said.

Pepanz and its energy industry members recognised that the exploration effort should not be at the expense of environmental responsibility, he said .

"The oil and gas industry actually has a very small environmental footprint. In Taranaki you have to go looking for the energy industry – it's that unobtrusive."

Former MP backs oil firm
A former MP who looks set to return to Parliament says New Zealand would be "silly" to close the door on TAG Oil – the company that says there's potential to build "thousands" of wells on the East Coast

AARON GILMORE: 'If you scare big companies like this off ... there will be nothing to share.'

Stuff, 5 February, 2012.

Aaron Gilmore, who is paid an annual royalty for consultancy work he did for TAG surrounding its operations in Taranaki before he became an MP in 2008, could return to Parliament from National's list if Speaker Lockwood Smith retires this year.

TAG is involved in a joint-venture with fellow Canadian energy company, Apache Corp, which has identified 687,966 hectares of "conventional and unconventional targets".

The proposed exploration area covers the East Coast, Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay.

Developers say they may need to rely on the controversial practice of fracking in their bid to recover "billions of barrels" of oil, sparking a growing outcry in the affected areas.

Describing New Zealand as "energy rich", Gilmore told the Sunday Star-Times the developments could be in the country's best interests.

"It seems like they are trying to shoot the goose before it is born. That would be pretty silly," he said. "If you scare big companies like this off ... there will be nothing to share."

Gilmore said the country needed to focus on trying to maximise the value to New Zealand. "A few years ago oil was our third or fourth biggest export. We have to make money from something to pay for all the things we want."

His financial link to TAG is revealed in the 2011 MPs' Pecuniary and Other Interests Register, and Gilmore describes the company as a "former client".

Before becoming an MP he provided consultancy services on TAG's Cheal oil and gas field in Taranaki.

In return, his contract included a lump-sum, company shares, and a contractual right that covers his ongoing royalty from the company's Cardiff oil and gas field, also in Taranaki, and described by TAG as having "the potential to become a substantial and strategic onshore resource".

The register also shows Gilmore has financial interests in three other oil and gas production companies.

During his first three years as an MP, Gilmore made several comments inside and outside Parliament on the benefits of oil and gas operations for New Zealand.

He said any comments he made while he was an MP backed his party's energy policy and were not "specific to a particular company".

"I was supportive of the oil and gas sector being developed ... that was one of the policy platforms we stood on [in 2008] and part of some of the work I did," he said.

In a letter to investors last July, TAG chief executive Garth Johnson said the company had "tremendous support" from the New Zealand Government. A Gisborne District Council document on the TAG/Apache joint-venture says: "This round of prospecting has been encouraged by the New Zealand Government opening up new licence areas, and the economics of oil and gas demand and supply."

Gilmore said TAG was a "good bunch of people", and that the company was technically sound and committed to its New Zealand ventures. "If it can deliver on some of the things it wants to deliver on, it will be a good thing for New Zealand."

He said TAG's joint-venture partner on the East Coast, Apache, was a "world-class" second-tier operator. Although few people in New Zealand had heard of Apache before the East Coast exploration, he described it as a "serious player".

Meanwhile, a delegation of local body officials considering the TAG and Apache developments – including Gisborne District Council's environmental services manager Trevor Freeman – flew out on Friday for a fact-finding tour of Canada being paid for by Apache. The Gisborne council has already granted exploration consents to the companies without seeking public approval or consulting Mayor Meng Foon

Fracking in Canterbury. OMG - It's most of Canterbury!

Celsias,

1 December, 2011

Canterbury residents can see the exact areas that the two gas exploration permits cover. Permit 52605 covers mid and South Canterbury, whilst 52614 covers North Canterbury. Basically, it’s the whole of Canterbury.

Click here to see the permit areas overlaid on Google Maps.The map allows you to zoom in to see just how close it is.

So if you thought you were leaving the city to get away from earthquakes -be very careful. None other than the US Government has now linked fracking to earthquakes. And watch out for pollutants and toxins in your water and your ground. Or fight it !