Taranaki oil and gas producer TAG Oil is selling its New Zealand operations for US$30 million to Tamarind Resources, citing the less friendly environment for the oil and gas sector as one of its reasons for quitting the country.
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"There wasn't a desire to exit, but there's always a desire to maximise value for shareholders," said Beltgens. The company believed its share price had suffered from investor perception in Canada and the US that the New Zealand government's ban on issuing new offshore oil and gas exploration permits would eventually move onshore too.
While New Zealand was "still quite a bit friendlier than most other places" as a place to do business, that had "changed and not for the better in the last year, year and a half," said Beltgens. "We're slightly immune to that, being onshore, but with the way the winds are blowing, cancelling the offshore block offering, smaller blocks being offered on onshore, it just seems that there's a trend there that we can't ignore."
Good riddance. But its not all good news - according to RNZ, the company they've sold to, Tamarind, "specialises in getting the last out of fields nearing the end of their life". Which means they're a pack of frackers. So they're going to damage our environment to get the last dregs of a dangerous, polluting "resource" for the profit of their foreign owners.
Which invites the question: why didn't the Minister refuse consent for the transfer of the mining permits under s41 of the Crown Minerals Act? Because if we want to end the fossil fuel industry, that's another thing we need to add to the list: refuse transfer if it will result in emissions continuing. This will incidentally destroy their commercial value and the asset values of the companies which hold them, and help to drive these companies into bankruptcy where they belong.