New Zealand environment affected by drilling programme, a call for action goes out to protect Taranaki.
The fight against Shell’s Arctic drilling programme started in February 2012, when eight activists occupied the Shell drilling ship, Noble Discoverer, in Port Taranaki.
Among the occupiers was actress Lucy Lawless, who spent three nights protesting on top of the oil-exploration ship’s drilling tower to stop it going out to drill for oil.
Eventually, Shell abandoned its Arctic drilling programme after failing to find enough crude oil - a mission that cost about US$7 billion (NZ$11 billion).
In April 2018, the New Zealand government announced a policy that would impose a ban on the offering, or award of, any new offshore petroleum exploration permits and any new onshore petroleum exploration permits outside the Taranaki region.