Spill risks among reasons public needs input into Otago oil exploration plan: Greenpeace

Monday, 30 September 2019

Greenpeace activists Abigail Smith and Nick Hanafin scaled the Majestic Centre in Wellington in a protest about oil company OMV in July.

Greenpeace is calling for a public hearing into the main application by Austrian company OMV to explore for oil and gas off the Otago coast.

OMV lodged a marine consent application with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) on August 9, seeking permission for exploration drilling activities in the Great South Basin.

Greenpeace executive director Dr Russel Norman has now written to the EPA, saying that because of the application's non-notified status there was no formal process through which the public could automatically be heard on the application.

But the EPA had the power to decide to hold hearings, if it considered them to be necessary or desirable.

This large jack up rig was contracted to OMV for a three-month well works and maintenance programme off the North Taranaki coast earlier this year.

* OMV granted approval to discharge harmful substance off Otago coast

* Offshore exploration set to expand off Taranaki coast

* Petroleum find could bring $20 billion in Southland investment

* Government extends tax breaks for oil rigs**

'The non-notified status of OMV's application means that scientific experts, civil society, iwi and the wider public are not automatically able, through formal process, to review, scrutinise or be heard on the impacts of exploratory drilling, let alone cross-examine applicants and make submissions on their ability to manage them,' Norman said.

'Due to the impacts of drilling, the severe consequence of potential spills on the marine environment, and the public interest, it is without doubt both necessary and desirable for the EPA to hold a public hearing into OMV's EAD (exploration and appraisal drilling) application for the Great South Basin.'

The Great South Basin off the coast of Southland and Otago.

Last Friday, more than 100,000 people protested in New Zealand against climate change. One of the main five demands of the School Strike for Climate organisers was for the Government to cease all exploration and extraction of fossil fuels - including not granting extensions of existing permits.

Although the Government was not granting new permits, existing oil and gas exploration permits were allowed to continue for now. In July, the Government also extended an income tax exemption for oil rigs to 2024 to stop rigs 'churning' in and out of New Zealand waters.

PAST AND FUTURE FOR OMV

In mid-September the EPA did grant OMV a marine consent to discharge trace amounts of unnamed harmful substances off a mobile offshore drilling unit in the Great South Basin. That decision was made after a hearing in Dunedin in July.

In a fact sheet, the EPA said the area OMV was applying to explore was more than 40km offshore from Otago, in an area covering almost 17,000 square kilometres, with an average depth of 1300 metres.

OMV proposed to drill three exploration wells to test for the presence of oil and gas under the ocean floor, the EPA said. If an exploration well showed there was oil or gas, OMV would drill appraisal wells to find out how much was there.

Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan said he wanted a transparent process, and the interface between the public and such proposals was through the submission process.

'I think we would like to have the opportunity to have an input and if we have concerns to have the opportunity to air them. It's no use trying to do it after an event,' he said.

The economic aspects of oil and gas exploration were not such an issue for Clutha, given its rough coastline. That was more a matter for Dunedin to the north and Bluff to the south.

'The only possible interaction would be if something went wrong. That's the only focus we have had,' Cadogan said.

OMV in New Zealand referred queries to public affairs agency BRG, which said any comment needed to come from the EPA.

The EPA was asked for comment but said a response was not expected before Tuesday morning.