The Association has several Committees which focus on the detail of various policy initiatives of interest to members. If industry participants wish to become involved with the a ctivities of any committee just contact the office.

These include:

1.Policy Committee - Chairman, David Coull - Bell Gully

2.Health, Safety and Environment Committee - Chairman, Nicholas Cavaye - OMV New Zealand

3.Tax and Fiscal Committee - Chairman, Greg Bishop - KPMG

4.Climate Change Committee - Chairman, Chris Hall - Todd Petroleum Mining

Policy Committee

This committee focuses essentially on matters being dealt with by the Ministry of Economic Development and more particularly the Crown Minerals Division of that agency. All other policy issues generally get picked up by the HSE Committee In 2010 the key issue is responding to the Government's Petroleum Plan of Action, which contains 5 separate work streams.

These include:a review of agency capability - the agency review is being done by Martin Jenkins and Associations; a review of fiscal terms - focused on petroleum taxation and royalties; a review of the Crown Minerals Act and Associated regulation; a review of methane hydrates and associated policy, and a review of information requirements around reporting regulations and geological knowledge. There are clearly other matters of interest to the Association which Crown Minerals gets involved with, but these are the 2010 focus.

Health, Safety and Environment Committee

This Committee, as it's names suggests covers a wide variety of policy issues. These include: oil spill preparedness and response; industry health and safety policies; responding to plan changes by the Taranaki regional Council on air quality and the New Plymouth District Council on zoning changes that affect onshore drilling; vessel bio-security; interaction with the Department of Conservation on proposals for Marine Reserves under the Marine Reserves Act and Marine Mammal Sanctuaries under the Marine Mammals protection Act; in 2010 reviewing the Department of Conservation's 2006 Guidelines on Seismic Survey Guidelines for Operating near marine mammals; working with Maritime NZ on issues like reviewing the Oil Pollution Levy and rules governing discharge of production water at sea; working with Ministry for the Environment on development of National Standards and proposals for greater environmental regulation in our exclusive economic zone; working with Standards NZ on various NZ and joint Australian/New Zealand Gas Standards.

The above list is by no means comprehensive. Rather it indicates the complexity and range of issues affecting the sector.

Tax and Fiscal Committee

This committee works with Treasury, Ministry of Economic Development and Inland Revenue on ideas we have to improve the tax and regulatory environment.

Climate Change Committee

This Committee has invested a great deal of time and energy into working with Government and other trade groups responding to proposals for establishing an emissions trading regime.