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New Zealand gov't opens up more deep sea areas to drilling

Xinhua, March 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

The New Zealand government Monday unveiled controversial plans to open up more of the country 's offshore waters to deep-sea oil and gas drilling.

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges launched Block Offer 2015, the annual tender for oil and gas exploration permits, a day after more than 3,000 people marched through central Auckland to protest against deep sea drilling.

Block Offer 2015 included four offshore areas, covering the upper west and lower east of the North Island and south and southeast of the South Island, and three onshore areas.

The total area comprised 4,093 square kilometers onshore and 425,205 square kilometers offshore.

Bridges said in a published speech to a petroleum industry summit in Auckland that New Zealand had built a strong, world- class regulatory framework to enure the necessary environmental and safety protections.

"Oil is our fourth largest export, and brings in around 700 million NZ dollars (527.58 million U.S. dollars) each year in royalties and taxes," said Bridges.

"It is clear that companies are seeking frontier acreage and long-term opportunities like those which New Zealand has to offer, and this government remains committed to attracting major international companies to invest in exploration and development in this country."

The tender would close on Sept. 30 and permits would likely be granted in December.

Environment campaigners said the size of the offshore area was unprecedented and included protected conservation areas and the home of the critically endangered Maui's dolphin, which is believed to have a population of just 55.

"It's clear the government doesn't care about protecting our precious last remaining Maui's dolphins when they are offering up their home for oil and gas exploration while it is known that seismic surveying can seriously harm marine mammals," opposition Green Party mining spokesperson Gareth Hughes said in a statement.

"The strategy of luring oil companies to New Zealand is failing and this block offer shows how increasingly desperate the government is becoming with the latest block larger than the size of Greenland," he said.

"The amount of our land and oceans being offered up to foreign oil companies has increased 125 percent since 2012. It raises the question if they will stop at nothing to help foreign oil companies make a buck." Endi