Delay will give country time to assess dangers, says minerals chief

Despite his predictions that deep-water drilling could be a key economic driver, Crown Minerals chief petroleum geologist Richard Cook says no one is planning to do any around New Zealand over the next 18 months, allowing time to find out why the BP well leaking oil in to the Gulf of Mexico exploded in April destroying its drilling platform.

Environmental lobbyists have called on the Government to follow nations like Norway in putting a moratorium on ocean oil drilling until the cause of the accident is known.

Environment and Conservation Organisations co-chair Cath Wallace said no deep-water drilling should go ahead until the Government's proposed new environmental protection authority (EPA) was in place.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee recently awarded Brazil's Petrobras an exploration permit on the Raukumara block off the East Coast, and said he was aware of environmental concerns but the US investigation into the explosion should be completed before that new deep-water drilling began.

State-owned GNS Science has talked about the potential for up to 10 billion barrels of oil to be recovered from the nation's deepwater frontiers.

- NZPA