Deep sea exploration oil drilling off the Waikato coast by Texas-based oil company Anadarko began early today.

Jack Johnson isn’t your typical rock star – he breaks the mould in terms of how the well-off behave.

Veteran New Zealand oilman Rob Jager says he can understand concern over deep water drilling off New Zealand's coast.

Voting begins today in a citizens-initiated referendum on whether the Government should sell part of its stake in power companies and Air New Zealand.

The Government, fresh from the sale of shares in Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy, faces a harder sell when it comes to divesting a 49 per cent stake in the third and final power generator.

The Auckland Council has approved oil exploration permits off the city's West Coast in a submission to the Government.

Meridian Energy's instalment receipts have continued to hold firm, helped by buying interest from Bank of New York Mellon Corp, through its London-based subsidiary, Newton Investment.

The head of New Zealand's investment regulator has hit out at the Government's energy company sharemarket floats and says they have failed to lead the way in making it easier for retail investors to access information.

Meridian says a New York bank owns just 3.98 per cent of the company - not the 8.1 per cent it said earlier.

The price of newly-listed Meridian Energy instalment receipts edged higher this morning.

Analysts expect power company's stock to keep trading above its issue price after gaining 8% on first day.

The chances of the Govt raising $5 billion to $7 billion from its partial assets sales is looking dimmer after details of No 2 sale, Meridian, were announced last night.

A Greenpeace-commissioned report shows dramatic blow-out effects of a deep-sea oil spill, but the industry says it's "science fiction".

Solid Energy has secured its restructuring deal with most of its banks and the Government following a series of meetings today in Christchurch.

Auckland bio-fuels pioneer Lanzatech has been named the second "hottest" bio-technology company in the world and 4th hottest for bio-chemicals.

Britain has struck an agreement to build a new nuclear power plant - the first such deal in the European Union since the disaster at Fukushima prompted a major rethink of the energy source's merits.

It is deliciously funny to see befuddled Green Party politicians advocating policies that subsidise precisely what they want to discourage, writes Jamie Whyte.