Thiis is Peak Oil

The Greens reveal some home truths about National's obession with oil.

Conventional oil production has peaked everywhere in the world (including New Zealand).

Addicted to oil and to the myth of Infinite Growth governments around the world are upping their search for expensive and dirty forms of energy that can but hasten our demise.

So desperate is the quest that governments everywhere are subverting (or worse, dispensing with) whatever went by the name of democracy

Data shows NZ's oil output, exports down under National

The Green Party say New Zealand's oil production and exports under the National-led government have slumped.

National's oil obsession runs out of gas

Wednesday, 5 February 2014, 9:26 am

Press Release: Green Party

National's oil obsession runs out of gas

The rapid decline in oil production and exports under the current government confirms that National's oil drilling obsession has been an economic and environmental failure, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

Oil production in New Zealand has fallen by 40% and oil export revenue by 47% under the current government, which is paying $45 million a year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

"National's oil drilling obsession has been an economic and environmental failure," said Dr Norman.

"For six years, National has lavished taxpayer subsidies on the oil industry and changed laws at the whim of drilling companies. But New Zealand has gained nothing in return.

"The riches promised by John Key and Steven Joyce have failed to materialise. Oil production has fallen by 40% and oil export revenue has been cut in half.

"The latest failure of US drillers Anadarko to find oil just confirms that gambling on oil finds is not a successful economic policy. Even if oil was found, it would just add to the global pool of fossil fuel reserves that can't be burned if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

"National has bet the public's money on the wrong horse. We should be investing, instead, in jobs-rich sectors with proven success records like hi-tech manufacturing and IT.

"National's economic strategy rests on asset sales and oil drilling. Both have been total failures. Smart, green economic policies are the path to a prosperous New Zealand," said Dr Norman

See - New Zealand's crude output, exports dip to six-year lows: ministry (18 July, 2013)

A Message to Anadarko from New Zealand

Greenpeace

In February 2013 we sailed through the Cook Strait on the Rainbow Warrior very close to where Texan oil company Anadarko wants to carry out high risk deep sea oil drilling in the Pegasus Basin.

We had just been to the Auckland Islands to draw attention to the best of what is at stake if we allow deep sea oil drilling to proceed. But as we sailed towards Wellington we were met by an enormous pod of dolphins and they reminded us that all around NZ we have an astonishingly rich ecology that is too precious to risk.

So right there, on the bridge of the Rainbow Warrior, we made a pledge to resist, with every peaceful means available to us, the threat of deep sea oil. And we called Anadarko in Texas to tell them exactly that.

This is a video of our message to Anadarko. You can take action by sending your own message to Anadarko here: http://act.gp/Yz65ki

Together we can Stop Deep Sea Oil.


The government/media spin 

Anadarko's Taranaki oil exploration fails

Stuff,

4 Febraury, 2014

Not striking oil is one of the risks of oil drilling, Prime Minister John Key said today in response to news that Texan oil giant Anadarko found no commercially viable oil or gas in its deep-sea well in the Taranaki Basin.

"It's well established that a huge number of wells that these companies will drill for will prove not to actually have either commercial oil or hydrocarbons, or none whatsoever," Key said.

"So it's disappointing from Anadarko's point of view and from our point of view, because of course that would be great for New Zealand if there was some big oil findings there."

"My understanding is they're moving on to other parts of New Zealand, hopefully they'll be more successful there."

The Far North region was a place that could potentially benefit from oil exploration.

"That's a place where historically, you've got low levels of employment, high levels of unemployment, low wages and people screaming out for opportunities," Key said.

"It's also a place where there's highly likely to be prospective conditions for mineral, oil and gas exploration.

"And those two things could really help address the situation in Northland."

He doubted the failure of Anadarko's Taranaki drilling would have a negative impact on future prospecting licences.

Anadarko's drill ship Noble Bob Douglas will move to the Canterbury Basin this week.

"It's a disappointment, but this is by far the most frequent outcome in exploratory drilling," Anadarko New Zealand's corporate affairs manager Alan Seay said.

The 4619-metre well, which was drilled under 1500m of water, will be plugged and abandoned over the next few days, he said.

Anadarko spent about 70 days drilling in deep water off the Taranaki coast, at a cost of up to US$250 million (NZ$309m). The company's licence to drill in the Deepwater Taranaki Basin ends on February 14.

"In terms of the drilling operation, the ship performed above and beyond expectations," Seay said.

Energy campaigner for Greenpeace Steve Abel said it was a "real bad day" for Anadarko and the New Zealand Government.

"The Texan oil giant has not only announced that their New Zealand drilling has failed, they've also announced a loss of over $950 million dollars in the last quarter," he said.

"[Prime Minister John] Key's ministers have wasted a whole load of political capital on this bungle.

"Instead, they should be backing our own cutting-edge clean energy industry, which will bring thousands of jobs and a multi-billion dollar economic boost.

"That's what smart politicians would be doing."

In November, Greenpeace unsuccessfully challenged the Environmental Protection Agency in the High Court to have the granting of Anadarko's offshore drilling permit declared erroneous.

Key said planned protests over drilling to coincide with his arrival at Waitangi tomorrow were misguided.

"The protests are actually more often than not, fed by misinformation. In fact, actually we've been drilling in New Zealand for well over 30 years and we're the Government that brought in much tougher regulation when it came to deep-sea drilling.

"In fact, despite what David Cunliffe says the previous Labour Government allowed drilling without the new tougher regulation that we've brought in, in deeper waters."