US company, Apache, pulls out of East Coast oil hunt

US company, Apache, pulls out of East Coast oil hunt
By Pattrick Smellie Jan 15 (BusinessDesk) - The government's drive for new investment in oil and gas development in New Zealand has suffered another blow with the departure of Texan mid-sized player Apache Corp from a joint venture with Canadian TAG Oil. The pair were to explore together for oil and gas on the North Island's East Coast. TAG says it will now go it alone. The shale gas play is likely to involve the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", to which the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment las...