Herald says if there is that much oil there, we should dig it up

The Herald editorial:

Now Greenpeace has given up its seaborne protest against exploratory oil drilling off Raglan it is not clear what it intended to prove out there. Once one vessel of its flotilla entered the statutory exclusion zone the protest statements became somewhat contradictory. Sometimes they said their action showed the exclusion zone was not justified, at other times they reckoned it proved Anadarko Petroleum was reckless.

They seem very disappointed they were not arrested.

A report commissioned by Greenpeace last month imagines an undersea drilling accident could release 40,000 barrels a day. If we have an oil well of that scale and pressure under our continental shelf it would be very good news indeed and we should find it.

A very good point. The price of oil is US$93 a barrel or NZ$113 a barrel. So that would be $4.5 million of oil a day. Over a year that is $1.65 billion. Why would we want that left there, so we have to buy more oil from the Middle East instead?

Unfortunately for our prospects of wealth, but reassuring for our coastal environment, few experts agree with the Greenpeace report. If oil or gas reserves can be found, they are likely to have a gentle flow more easily plugged.

The good news is that even looking for the oil is involving spending of $1 million a day – which benefits the NZ economy.