Oil drilling in New Zealand

Andarko fails to find oil off Otago coast

Texas-based oil company Anadarko is now "unlikely" to drill a second test oil-well it planned off the Otago coast.

Radio New Zealand,

12 March, 2014

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The company's statement comes after leaked industry information indicates Anadarko has not struck oil with its first exploration well in the Canterbury Basin, about 60 kilometres from Dunedin.

Anadarko's drill ship and a Greenpeace protest boat off Taranaki in November.

Anadarko has spent about $300 million in deepwater drilling off Taranaki and Otago and appears to have come up dry in both areas.

Unverified drilling information, leaked to Greenpeace, said Anadarko drilled to almost 2700 metres, but the seabed at the site off the Otago coast was 90 percent hardrock granite and schist, and the rest sand and clay and little, if any, oil.

Radio New Zealand has not been able to independently verify the drilling information, but industry insiders say it appears credible.

Dugald Roberts from Roberts Oil in South Canterbury hopes Anadarko does not give up, because he says he's sure a vast amount of oil and gas on a global scale is out in New Zealand's southern basins waiting to be discovered.

The firm's exploration permit gave the company the option to drill a second test well immediately, and it has previously indicated its keenness to do so if it found enough promise in the first hole.

Anadarko's New Zealand manager, Alan Seay, is not confirming or denying the leaked information, saying the company is still analysing the Otago well data and it is far too early to give results.

But he says a second test well is now very unlikely, and the drilling ship Noble Bob Douglas is likely to be going home before the end of the month.

Protest against oil drilling in NZ

Protest flotilla to take on Anadarko

A flotilla of ocean-going yachts is racing Texas oil giant Anadarko's drillship to the spot 110 nautical mile west of Raglan where an exploratory oil well will be drilled in 1500 metres of water this month.

Fleet support: Protesters farewell yachts setting sail from Auckland to a drilling site about 160 kilometres off the coast of Raglan.

Stuff,

12 November, 2013

A flotilla of ocean-going yachts is racing Texas oil giant Anadarko's drillship to the spot 110 nautical mile west of Raglan where an exploratory oil well will be drilled in 1500 metres of water this month.

The Vega, Shearwater II and Friendship left Auckland yesterday to join the Bluff-based Tiama and yachts from Kaikoura, Wellington and the Bay of Islands in the Oil Free Seas protest against drilling at the Romney Prospect in the Taranaki Basin.

Supporters waving signs which said things like "C'MON NZ . . . STICK IT TO ‘IM" saw the yachts off as they headed out to sea to join the rest of the flotilla. Among the protesters were members of the Raglan- based Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) group chaired by Phil McCabe.

The Noble Bob Douglas is en route from North Korea and, if a Notice to Mariners is anything to go by, could begin its drilling as early as Friday. Land Information New Zealand is warning vessels to steer 5 nautical miles clear of the drillship and support vessels Bailey Tide, Hart Tide, and Caroline Tide III between Friday and February 14.

"We are going up to where the oil rig is going to be," said Vega co-skipper Daniel Mares. "We will have discussions and make our decisions (about what form the protest is going to take) out there. We will ask them, politely, to go somewhere else to play with their great big drilling rig.

"Even if Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges is right and the risks of anything going wrong is low we saw how long it took to respond to the Rena . . . we are going to suffer for that one in the future."

Mr Mares said the Government had offered Anadarko a $46 million sweetener to get it prospecting here.

"Why aren't we producing more wind turbines or solar panels or something else that will produce a lot more jobs?"

Raglan residents protested in the street at the weekend, waving placards, after the Government failed to consult them and Anadarko did not front at a public meeting last week.

A similar protest at Kawhia Harbour was called off by the organising canoeists who plan to organise something bigger and better.

Raglan Farmstay owner Chris Rayner has offered his 16-bed facility to the flotilla crew and will help with getting supplies to the yachts as the protest ramps up.

"To be honest, the community is pretty pissed off," Mr Rayner said. "It's come out of left-field quite fast. They are going to be drilling before Christmas."

Mr Rayner is helping organise a community meeting on Saturday at the Manu Bay car park where locals will share information and protest.

On a related note, Mr McCabe had just heard public submissions would open on November 21 after Trans Tasman Resources' application to mine 65 square kilometres off the coast of Patea/Hawera had been accepted.

"Teams of KASM volunteers will be hitting the streets and beaches up and down the coast until the final minutes of that submission period raising awareness of this issue and encouraging oceanlovers to voice their concerns through the submission process," he said.

MUST-SEE: Drilling for oil in Godzone

Kaikoura is known for its beautiful coastline backed by mountains – and for whale watch – this is where they want to drill for oil – as well as every, damned other place

Kaikoura's trepidation with oil giant's arrival

TV3,

8 October, 2013

It is a balancing act – big, foreign oil, and us.

Next month, texan oil giant Anadarko begins the process of drilling deep sea exploration wells off the Taranaki and Otago coasts. In December, they'll go exploring off Kaikoura.

That's the same Anadarko that owned a 25 percent stake in the well that so disastrously exploded in 2010, spilling 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In Kaikoura, many people view Anadarko's arrival with trepidation. This is a community defined by the sea and its relationship with it. They're not as confident as the Government Anadarko will get it right.

Where does the buck stop if something goes wrong, as it did in the Gulf of Mexico? Who would, or even can, clean up?

Whena Owen reports on black gold and the people who want to drill for it, in our waters.

To watch video GO HERE

NZ government abuse of power

No reference to this that I can find on either NZ Herald, Stuff or Radio NZ

This is legislation designed to protect the rights of foreign oil corporations and violate the rights of New Zealanders

Govt abuses urgency to extend Anadarko Amendment

Govt abuses urgency to extend Anadarko Amendment

Scoop,

17 May, 2013

The Government is trying to pass legislation under urgency which would make the Anadarko Amendment – which limits protest at sea – apply to an additional 1.7 million square kilometres, the Green Party said today.

Just last month, the Government passed an amendment to the Crown Minerals Act, dubbed the Anadarko Amendment, that limited protest activity in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and territorial sea but did not apply to the high seas. Today, under urgency, the Government will try to pass a bill that will extend the limits on protest activity to the high seas over New Zealand’s extended continental shelf, beyond the exclusive economic zone – up to 350 miles from New Zealand’s coastline.

“It is outrageous the Government is now using urgency to sneak through changes that would limit protest activity on New Zealand’s entire continental shelf, which is quite possibly a breach of international law,” said Green Party oceans spokesperson Gareth Hughes.

“The Government shouldn’t put the business agenda of large foreign oil companies ahead of the legal and human rights of New Zealanders.

“This law change is likely to protect the interests of the self-described “mega government owned company” China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Shell.”

These companies recently submitted a joint application for a petroleum prospecting permit which extends beyond the EEZ and into New Zealand’s extended continental shelf.

“It is staggering that, without public scrutiny, the Government is about to give itself jurisdiction over protesting on the high seas – a move that clearly has international ramifications,” said Mr Hughes.

“It is dubious that New Zealand even has the legal powers to do this and it opens New Zealand up to legal challenge.

“Our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says New Zealand does not have special rights to the fisheries above the continental shelf beyond the EEZ or to control other activities such as shipping, yet the Government is proposing to make laws to establish exclusion zones around oil ships.

“Once again the Government is making law for their big business mates and offshore oil companies.”

References:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: “States do not have any special rights to the water column above the continental shelf; so New Zealand does not have special rights to the fisheries above the continental shelf beyond the EEZ or to control other activities such as shipping.” Source: http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/04-Law-of-the-Sea-and-Fisheries/NZ-Continental-Shelf-and-Maritime-Boundaries.php

Ministry for the Environment: “In areas where the continental shelf extends beyond 200NM from the baselines, the water itself above the continental shelf is not within New Zealand’s jurisdiction and is part of the high seas.” Source: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/oceans/jurisdictional.html