$2.2b – just on exploring

The Herald reported:

A report into the oil and gas sector says the “rubber’s finally hitting the road” with $2.2 billion about to be spent exploring around New Zealand.

The 2013 Edison Yearbook update finds that the exploration and production sector is embarking on its most intensive and expensive campaign ever and says heavyweights not already here, but known to be interested in New Zealand, include Chevron and Woodside.

During the next 12 months there are 98 wells to be sunk, 27 of them offshore.

Superb. Do we want to say no to $2.2 billion of economic activity? I know some political parties do, but I don’t.

Anadarko and Origin’s pending drilling of the Caravel prospect in the Canterbury Basin could be “transformational” for the New Zealand exploration and production sector.

“If, as Anadarko’s analysis suggests, a discovery is gas-rich, the implications for the South Island in particular would likely be game-changing.”

We have one of the largest EEZ’s in the world. It it called an exclusive economic zone for a reason – to utilise it for economic development.