"Anadarko's failure to find commercially viable oil off the Taranaki coast is a call for celebration and a victory for the planet”, said Climate Justice Taranaki spokesperson Urs Signer.

Anadarko NZ's corporate affairs manager Alan Seay's commented that "this is by far the most frequent outcome in exploratory drilling". Recently, OMV also reported ‘no significant gas or oil shows’ in the primary target of its Matuku well and Shell has announced it won't be drilling in the Arctic this year. Time and time again, companies have talked up the economic fortunes of fossil fuels but failed to deliver.

Notably, Anadarko spent 309 million dollars drilling off Taranaki's coast and Shell squandered 5 billion dollars on its failed Alaska programme.

There is a fair chance that OMV will have wasted millions in its exploratory drilling and seismic testing, the latter potentially had caused or exacerbated last months’ mass strandings of pilot whales at Farewell Spit.

Importantly, the International Energy Agency noted in 2012 that “No more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 if the world is to achieve the 2 °C goal...” Under these circumstances, continued exploratory drilling is clearly irresponsible and harmful to the future of humanity and the biosphere.

"People need to face the fact that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end. We can throw money into the drilling wastebin or we can reduce our energy use and move to a clean, renewable energy economy. The world's oceans and climate are better off now with the failure of these oil rigs.

Oil drilling is losing its social AND economic licence" said CJT spokesperson Urs Signer.

ENDS

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