The 2018 ban on offshore oil and gas exploration is facing a repeal, with part of the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill due for its third reading in Parliament today.
A last-minute amendment passed on Tuesday means the Resources Minister and the Finance Minister would decide who pays for decommissioning of oil and gas fields.
In the last Budget, the government set aside $200 million over four years for co-investment into new gas fields.
The International Court of Justice said in last week’s non-binding opinion that countries could be held legally responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions.
The Science Media Centre asked experts to comment.
Dr Nathan John Cooper, Associate Professor of Law, University of Waikato, comments:
“Current debate in New Zealand’s Parliament on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill should bear in mind last week’s ICJ Advisory Opinion on State Responsibility for climate change.
“Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Resources should be mindful that States have obligations under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and that States are subject to legal consequences connected to these obligations where they have caused climate harm.
“Moreover, States are responsible for climate harm caused by actors under their jurisdiction or control. This ICJ advice should induce caution when reconsidering the onerous obligations of oil and gas companies operating in New Zealand.”
Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts of interest.
Dr Jen Purdie, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago, comments:
“The government’s Crown Minerals Amendment Bill proposes re-opening New Zealand’s territorial waters to oil and gas exploration.
“This flies in the face of projections that global demand for oil will peak soon. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted demand for oil will peak before 2030. A 2023 report by Shell projects fossil fuel use dropping rapidly in coming decades, while BP thinks oil demand for combustion has already peaked. Many large organisations think peak oil demand will happen this decade or the 2030s. But the progression from prospecting new oil and gas wells to exploration and mining can take decades. This new bill therefore just doesn’t add up.
“The IEA has stated we don’t need any new fossil fuel exploration or development, with enough projects already in existence or planned to meet global energy demand forecasts to 2050. New research agrees, saying governments around the world should stop issuing new oil, gas and coal licences.”
Weakening clean-up laws
“The government is also proposing weakening the law that requires oil and gas permit holders to pay for the decommissioning and clean-up of wells. This law was passed in 2021 in response to taxpayers having to pick up a NZ$400 million bill for decommissioning the Tui oil field after the financial collapse of the oil company.
“Weakening these laws re-opens the prospect of taxpayers paying for clean-up. The government may be weakening these laws to attract drilling interest, as many oil interests, including BP, project declining investment in new oil and gas infrastructure globally in coming decades, and the IEA’s World Energy Investment report notes an ongoing hesitancy about oil and gas investment comes partly from concerns about downward long-term demand projections.”
Natural gas
“New Zealand does not import natural gas, but our gas fields have been yielding less than forecast for some years. Increased maintenance drilling or limited new expansion of current gas fields for the next decade will help smooth the energy transition, alongside other measures to firm up intermittent renewable electricity.”
Invest in the energy transition
“New Zealand should be moving away from oil drilling and instead invest in the energy transition, including decarbonisation of industrial heat, subsidising low-emitting vehicles (and charging high emitters), better public transport and bike lanes, increased EV charging infrastructure, and “urban mining” (recycling) of batteries and other technology currently filling rubbish dumps.”
Fossil fuels MUST stay in the ground
“We’ve known for some time that remaining fossil fuels must stay in the ground to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the world below 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, and to enable us to continue to have a liveable planet.”
Conflict of interest statement: “I do occasional consulting work for various organisations in the energy industry.”