Shell Oil will explore for gas in the sea between Dunedin and Invercargill in 2 year’s time. The company will drill a test well at a cost of $200m. Shell says the chance of finding gas is only about 30%.
However, about 30 or 40 years ago, some oil companies drilled in this area. They believed there was a chance of finding oil but it was too difficult to continue. Also the price of oil and gas was not so high at that time.
The Green Party and many other people are not happy about deep sea oil and gas drilling. The sea in this area is about 1.3km deep. The winds are very strong. Shell will work in the next 2 years to make sure that the drilling is as safe as possible.
Listen to January 28th 2012 to hear more about deep sea oil exploration and April 9th 2013 to hear about the government stopping protests near oil drills.
Vocabulary
- explore – look for
- drill – use a machine to dig a hole in the ground
- well – a hole in the ground for water, oil or gas
- a test well – to measure how much oil or gas is there