Oil giant, OMV announced that it intends to drill for oil and gas in their permit off the coast of Otago. This announcement comes almost exactly a year after our government banned all new offshore oil and gas permits in New Zealand. OMV bought this Great South Basin permit from Shell after they left Aotearoa.

Our friends on the frontline of the issue, Oil Free Otago, called for OMV to “expect resistance”.

In Aotearoa we’ve been resisting the oil industry drilling off our coasts for almost a decade. One-by-one, the oil giants are packing up, tails between their legs, and leaving. Jacinda’s ban on new offshore oil and gas permits was a huge step, but it doesn’t stop companies with existing permits to start projects that put our climate’s safety in jeopardy. We need to keep all new fossil fuels in the ground. Our planet doesn’t care about permits.