New Zealand reverses offshore oil and gas exploration ban

The ban on offshore petroleum exploration will be lifted amid fears of energy security challenges from falling production.

New Zealand’s former prime minister Jacinda Ardern introduced the exploration ban in 2018. Picture: Getty Images

New Zealand has reversed a ban on oil and gas exploration, six years after former prime minister Jacinda Ardern halted new offshore drilling to deal with ­climate change.

The conservative opposition National Party at the time accused Ms Ardern of “economic vandalism” that could put thousands of jobs at risk and campaigned in the 2023 election to repeal the ban if elected to government.

Resources Minister Shane Jones said on Sunday it would now move ahead with a lifting of the ban on offshore petroleum exploration amid fears of energy security challenges from falling production.

“When the exploration ban was introduced by the previous government in 2018, it not only halted the exploration needed to identify new sources, but it also shrank investment in further ­development of our known gas fields which sustain our current levels of use,” Mr Jones said.

“Without this investment, we are now in a situation where our annual natural gas production is expected to peak this year and undergo a sustained decline, meaning we have a security-of-supply issue barrelling towards us.”

New Zealand’s petroleum and minerals sectors contributed $NZ1.9bn to GDP in 2020-21 and $NZ236m in crown revenue in 2022-23, with mining employing some 6000 people.

Mr Jones said the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill, to be introduced to parliament later this year, will be the latest piece of the government’s legislative reform aimed at cutting red tape to enable crucial resources and infrastructure projects across New Zealand, and benefits to flow to communities.

The Bill will be introduced to parliament in the second half of 2024.

Originally published as New Zealand reverses offshore oil and gas exploration ban