Greenpeace New Zealand also weighed in on the argument, with executive director Russel Norman quick to call the new oil permits symbolic of a "massive" failure of the oil industry.
Dr Norman says although it is not good the permits have been awarded, the fact that none of them are in deep water, despite the government pushing a deep water agenda, suggests strongly that the government's oil drilling programme is failing.
Only 12,000 of the 430,000 square kilometres of test waters offered were actually taken up by oil companies, all of which are in the Taranaki region.
"John Key has continued to insist that we must look for the very oil that we can't burn if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change, despite evidence that it's a dying industry," Normain said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of deep sea permits is because no oil companies actually showed interest in sticking around in New Zealand deep water next year. It's no longer financially viable: The market worldwide is experiencing massive failure."
Brazil had a similarly poor permit offer process - its worst in a decade - in which only a small fraction of permits were even considered by oil companies. Even Shell and Statoil, two of the world's oil giants, didn't make any submissions.
In the Gulf of Mexico, less than half of new permits of last year were taken up this year.
Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, Statoil has announced a NZD$33 million loss in 2014 from its oil exploration work.
The New Zealand government's oil agenda is "clearly dying," says Norman.
"To date, no deep sea oil has been found here, and despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent, John Key obsessively continues to insist on subsidising the oil drillers with taxpayers' hard earned cash.
"Just think of the jobs that could have been created if Government time and money had been spent on cheaper, cleaner and smarter options like solar and wind. It's an outrageous betrayal."
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