The prospect of renewed exploration for petroleum offshore New Zealand has generated plenty of interest amongst the general public, business interests and government. New Zealand has an offshore exploration history dating back to the 1960s, several producing fields, and petroleum exports worth $1.5 billion annually, but we are a tiny player in the world petroleum market. Petroleum exploration and production involves risk and cost, as does almost every economic activity, and there are some recent examples of major environmental mishaps in production, and transport of oil and gas. But focusing solely on some well-publicised incidents or on carbon emissions and climate change impacts from fossil fuel provides a partial picture of the petroleum industry. We can observe how petroleum activities are managed in Norway, a midsized country with a similarly small population (5 million people) and a large offshore petroleum industry.

Opinion piece, published in Otago Daily Times, 16 January 2014.