Greymouth Gas Turangi Ltd v Minister of Energy and Resources

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

High Court of New Zealand

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

16/04/2018

LITIGATION TYPE

Project Approval - Mitigation

SUBJECT MATTER

Gas and Oil

REVIEW TYPE

Judicial review

SUMMARY

(Linxplus case summary from Lexis)

JUDICIAL REVIEW - application for judicial review on eight grounds challenging lawfulness of delegated decision to decline a bid for a petroleum exploration permit in offshore Taranaki - a ninth ground, challenging the legality of offshore petroleum exploration ban, was also brought

HELD: by consent the decision was quashed - the decision-maker breached procedural fairness and made errors of fact and law in their evaluation of the applicant's compliance history - orders made directing that the applicant's bid be reconsidered on the basis of an absolute assessment of the adequacy of its proposed work programme, rather than a relative one measuring it against the prospect of a more attractive bid - reconsideration also to occur on the basis that decision-maker could be satisfied that Greymouth would be likely to comply with its proposed work programme - the challenge to the legality of the exploration ban was dismissed.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Greymouth Gas Turangi Ltd v Minister of Energy and Resources [2020] NZHC 2712