Texan oil giant Anadarko is the latest to join the \u00a0growing list of companies to scale back or completely quit their search for oil in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
>Subscription-only industry publication, Energy News, has reported that Anadarko will surrender two major permits that allow it to search for oil in Pegasus Basin over an area of 7,085 square-kilometres off the Kaikoura and Wellington Coasts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
>Anadarko has been the focus of years of protest by thousands of New Zealanders, Greenpeace, anti-oil groups and iwi.\u00a0 These protests sparked the controversial \u201cAnadarko Amendment\u201d in 2013, specifically designed to stop protest at sea against oil ships. \u00a0<\/p>\n
>Anadarko is the only company to actually do exploratory drilling in the deep sea since the Key Government\u2019s oil program began, and it\u2019s yet to find anything. Having quit its Deepwater Taranaki permit and now the two Pegasus permits, Anadarko retains partial interest in two remaining permits PEP 55377 in the New Caledonia basin and PEP 38264 in the Canterbury Basin.<\/p>\n
The move comes hot on the heels of Norwegian petroleum company, Statoil, announcing the withdrawal of 90% of its New Zealand assets. The sudden move follows years of pressure and protest from Greenpeace and Northern iwi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their partial withdrawal came after the complete exit in previous years of two other drillers from New Zealand \u2013 Petrobras and ExxonMobil.<\/p>\n
Australian media has also reported that New Zealand\u2019s biggest oil company, Shell, is preparing to sell its entire portfolio here, which includes oil exploration and production assets.<\/p>\n
It was hailed a major international victory when Shell pulled its oil drilling plans in the Arctic last year, after massive public pressure that included a global petition with more than seven million signatures.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace spokesperson Steve Abel said Anadarko\u2019s Pegasus Basin withdrawal is just another example that the Government\u2019s oil drilling agenda in dire straights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re dropping like flies,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the supposed-cornerstones of this Government\u2019s economic strategy is its oil program, but it is totally failing with no new oil found in eight years of searching.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the change of Prime Minister, the Government should quit this mad oil program once and for all.\u00a0 We\u2019re calling on soon-to-be new Prime Minister Bill English to face the planetary climate emergency and listen to iwi, public and local government opposition, and ditch deep sea drilling now.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
In the last month Auckland Council, Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury, Dunedin Council and Gisborne Council voted to oppose offshore oil prospecting, exploration and drilling. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Hawke\u2019s Bay region is currently considering a ban on drilling and Kaikoura Councils have also historically opposed drilling. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abel says Greenpeace is focused on the arrival of the world\u2019s biggest seismic ship which recently began blasting in New Zealand waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 125-metre long ship, the Amazon Warrior, is owned by the world\u2019s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger, and is currently seismic blasting for oil between Napier and Kaikoura, an area inhabited by thousands of whales \u00a0and dolphins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ship has been actively avoiding going into port because it knows it will face huge resistance and protest,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s even gone to such lengths as to break maritime safety law and switch off transmission from its AIS tracking device, presumably so that peaceful protestors can\u2019t find it.\u201d<\/p>\n