Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Why are the oil and gas companies scared to invest in us?

Best of Business · Jul 29, 2026 · 2m · transcript

There are two ways to look at this oil and gas announcement today.

Aussie outfit EnZed Energy's been given the nod to go have a sniff around off the coast of Taranaki.

That's important because they're the first company to be given that right since the Ardern ban. But there's already talk online about the fact this was the only application. There was nobody else applying for this permit, and it's just to have a poke around.

Now, you would say this proves the point that there's not much interest and, therefore, why bother anyway? But what it actually tells you is people are still bloody scared…