Mr Key said Solid Energy had $300 million of outstanding debt and was in a "precarious position".

New Zealand Oil & Gas says exploration drilling of the Barque prospect in the Canterbury Basin, which has the potential to be the nation's biggest-ever hydrocarbon discovery, is expected to start in 2017.

The world's big energy groups have shelved US$200 billion ($298 billion) of spending on new projects in an urgent round of cost-cutting to protect dividends as the oil price slumps for a second time this year.

Iran, once OPEC's second-biggest producer, will boost its oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day immediately after sanctions are lifted

Government spends up to 20 times more money on wooing oil and gas companies to New Zealand than it does on promoting renewable energy, newly released figures show.

The New Zealand Middle East Business Council says they are monitoring "the potential of opening up of trade with Iran".

While the world is distracted by the Greek saga and China something really important is going on: Iran and oil.

Firefighters have been working to contain a poisonous gas leak at a meatworks near Ngaruawahia this morning - the second at the company in less than a fortnight.

The Commerce Commission has indicated a timeframe on when it expects to make a decision the acquisition.

The boss of a Z Energy rival says its planned acquisition of Caltex operator Chevron NZ could impact competition in the fuel market.

Never mind cutting output to staunch a global glut - the talk so far is mostly about pumping more oil.

NZ's largest and longest-producing offshore oil and gas field, Maui, has gained marine resource consents allowing it to operate for up to 35 years more,

New Zealand's terms of trade improved 1.5 per cent in the March quarter but only because of the lagged effects of lower oil prices.

The massive rally in Z Energy shares, sparked by the firm's plans to acquire a rival, should raise competition concerns for the Commerce Commission, says a market source.

The sale of Caltex is another example of the exodus of multi-national oil companies from the New Zealand market.

Z Energy shares have soared 21 per cent on news it has bought the Caltex chain of gas stations.

Could Chevron New Zealand's offloading of its NZ Refining shares be a sign of things to come?

There's an Alice-in-Wonderland quality about Royal Dutch Shell's attitude towards the risks involved in its plan to drill for oil in the US Arctic.

Airline share prices fell 1.5 per cent around the world last month as the United States dollar and oil prices rallied, but are still up 23 per cent on a year ago.

Z Energy says work has slowed on its $20 million biodiesel plant but it will be finished in the next nine months.

Vector has formed a partnership with Tesla to bring its revolutionary home and business batteries to New Zealand.

Thick, black oil washed up on properties as far as Mangatapu last night after a spill in Tauranga Port yesterday - with fears for surrounding wildlife.

It is hard not to be cynical about protests when we are consuming oil here that comes from countries that have no environmental controls whatsoever, writes Sam Judd.

The shale oil boom that pushed US crude production to the highest level in four decades is grinding to a halt.

Oil bobbing around the US$50 mark was the "the elephant in the room" at the Advantage New Zealand Petroleum Summit but veteran oil man Sean P Flanagan says he's seen it all before.

One-time environmental activist turned face of the Colorado oil and gas industry in says the road to winning the public over is a long and "boring" one.

Refiners are poised to make gasoline at a record pace, keeping the US crude glut from overflowing storage.