Petroleum industry welcomes end of offshore exploration ban

Petroleum industry welcomes end of offshore exploration ban
The end of the ban will not necessarily immediately lead to investment. (Image: Getty)
Greg Hurrell
The ban on offshore oil and gas exploration will go, although that doesn’t guarantee that investors will be flocking back to drill.The overturn of the ban – introduced by the Labour-NZ First-Green government in 2018 – was a priority for Act and NZ First in their coalition agreements with National.The announcement is hardly unexpected, given National’s own pledge to restore offshore exploration.The agreement with NZ First is to future-proof the natural gas industry by restarting offshore exploration and supporting the dev...

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