NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Big oil spooks tiny town

By Paul Charman
Herald on Sunday·
2 Mar, 2013 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Fracking may be used at some of the 83 wells at Tikorangi, an area of prime dairying land and lifestyle blocks in Taranaki. Photo / Paul Charman
Fracking may be used at some of the 83 wells at Tikorangi, an area of prime dairying land and lifestyle blocks in Taranaki. Photo / Paul Charman

Fracking may be used at some of the 83 wells at Tikorangi, an area of prime dairying land and lifestyle blocks in Taranaki. Photo / Paul Charman

Locals fear disruption from oil exploration.

Residents of a tiny rural community will gather this Tuesday to ponder its status as one of the most intensively drilled places in the country.

The New Plymouth District Council has either issued or is currently evaluating resource consents for more than 83 wells at Tikorangi, an area of prime dairying land and lifestyle blocks similar in size to Auckland's Dairy Flat.

Oil companies keen to expand land-based exploration into the East Coast of the North Island and Manawatu are likely to be watching proceedings. If exploration can co-exist with farmers in Tikorangi, it can probably do so anywhere.

Tikorangi's fate is to sit above the Mangahewa, Kowhai, Turangi and Epiha gas fields - rich areas of gas-bearing rock up to 4km below the Earth's surface.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Production of oil, gas and condensate in this area began when joint venture Shell BP Todd drilled its first Mangahewa well in 1961.

The two companies now active at Tikorangi, Todd Taranaki and Greymouth Petroleum, increasingly use fracking, which can be used to make old wells economical again.

Fracking was approved in November in an interim report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

New Plymouth Mayor Harry Duynhoven says deep-level fracking at Tikorangi and in other Taranaki fields should not be compared to overseas sites, where the practice has been blamed for pollution of groundwater and even earthquakes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Duynhoven does not accept the reports from overseas, "but in any case, at Tikorangi fracking happens far below the aquifer", he says.

The practice is not the sole worry for Tikorangi residents.

Abbie Jury, who is organising Tuesday's meeting at the local hall, says locals endure heavy traffic and noise from machinery and the flaring of natural gas at well sites. Other concerns include the impact on property values, fears of possible spillage from toxic loads carried by trucks, or even a gas explosion.

"Safety is a sore point since our school and play centre are located close by these operations," Jury says.

Discover more

Commodities

South Pole a cold mine in waiting

15 Jan 04:30 PM
Opinion

Brian Fallow: Pining for bioenergy: will it work?

13 Feb 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Major fracking report set back again

28 Feb 12:39 AM
New Zealand

Oil and gas affected residents not included in consent process

20 Apr 06:11 AM

"Most of us are not philosophically against the idea of having an oil industry. We are saying that the checks and balances on this industry do not appear to be adequate.

"Only so-called affected parties are informed in advance, but who is deemed to be an affected party seems to us be a subjective judgement," she says.

Oil companies have paid for double-glazing in houses worst affected by noise, roads are being built to serve the truck traffic in and out of Tikorangi, and much of the ground is honeycombed with pipes to carry gas and condensate.

Jury says Tikorangi cannot be compared to rural residents unhappy with an unwanted new neighbour, such as a new pig farm.

"What we have to contend with is a country area being turned into an industrial one."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Premium
Wellington

How a kid from Porirua has become America’s newest sweetheart

New Zealand

Brrrrr! Rotorua, Taupō record coldest temperatures of the year

New Zealand

'Silence ... then the heat hit me': Man saves Harley-Davidson, loses house in blaze


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Northland’s biggest water services changes kick off in Whangārei
Northern Advocate

Northland’s biggest water services changes kick off in Whangārei

Assessing what Warriors must do to secure NRL top four finish
Warriors

Assessing what Warriors must do to secure NRL top four finish

'Immense power': Lucy Lawless on embracing her 50s
Entertainment

'Immense power': Lucy Lawless on embracing her 50s

Brrrrr! Rotorua, Taupō record coldest temperatures of the year
Rotorua Daily Post

Brrrrr! Rotorua, Taupō record coldest temperatures of the year

'Silence ... then the heat hit me': Man saves Harley-Davidson, loses house in blaze
Rotorua Daily Post

'Silence ... then the heat hit me': Man saves Harley-Davidson, loses house in blaze

Auckland supermarkets and liquor stores under fire for selling high-strength beers
New Zealand

Auckland supermarkets and liquor stores under fire for selling high-strength beers



Latest from New Zealand

Premium
Premium
How a kid from Porirua has become America’s newest sweetheart
Wellington

How a kid from Porirua has become America’s newest sweetheart

Faith Ward has been named the newest member of the elite group.

25 Jul 12:00 AM
Brrrrr! Rotorua, Taupō record coldest temperatures of the year
New Zealand

Brrrrr! Rotorua, Taupō record coldest temperatures of the year

24 Jul 11:43 PM
'Silence ... then the heat hit me': Man saves Harley-Davidson, loses house in blaze
New Zealand

'Silence ... then the heat hit me': Man saves Harley-Davidson, loses house in blaze

24 Jul 11:31 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search