Abstract
\New Zealand is currently committed to unlocking the petroleum potential within its waters. The government introduced the Petroleum Action Plan (‘Plan’) in November 2009 which aims to lift the value of petroleum exports from NZ$3 billion (as at November 2009) to NZ$30 billion by 2025. Currently, some new permits for exploration have been granted. The work under the five year exploration permit granted to the Brazilian oil and gas company, Petrobras, in June 2010 to explore a 12 333 square kilometre block of sea bed in the Raukumara Basin off the East Cape of the North Island, has recently become headline news as a result of protest actions by environmentalists and iwi which have sought to disrupt the work of the Petrobras seismic survey ship