Member nations of the cartel Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and other oil-producing countries are continuing to produce oil to maintain market share, while US shale production is underpinning near record oil inventories in North America.
While nine onshore and offshore permits were awarded to four companies last December, it appears likely any exploration drilling off the South Island's east coast would, at the earliest, be in the summer of 2016-17.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said oil prices had fallen during the past 18 months from more than $US100 a barrel to just over $US30 this week, and some some analysts were picking prices could sink to as low as $US10 this year.
Explorers world-wide are exiting the costlier business of oil exploration and many are refocusing on gas field exploration and production, as technological advances make gas a cleaner and more viable energy option.
"Low oil prices present the perfect opportunity for the Government to start withdrawing its support for oil exploration and risky deep-sea oil drilling,'' Mr Shaw said.
In recent years, the Government has spent tens of millions of dollars in shipborne hydrographic surveys off New Zealand's coastline to kick-start global interest in oil and gas exploration; and on a smaller scale, similar aerial surveys of land-based mineral resources.
Following the global financial crisis in 2007-08, the National Government hailed the oil and gas sector as a cornerstone for New Zealand's economic recovery.
Mr Shaw said good economic management would now use the low current oil price to withdraw its support for further investment in "dirty energy'' and encourage capital to flow into the clean economy instead.
"We know that two-thirds of all discovered fossil fuels have to stay in the ground if we want a secure, stable climate,'' he said.
Where recently there was a squeeze on both oil rig availability and mid to senior level oil rig workers, there is now a burgeoning surplus of both.
Tens of thousands of staff have been made redundant around the world.
In recent months, Shell alone has said it wanted to cut its payroll and contract worker numbers by more than 10,000, and the outcome of its New Zealand asset review was expected some time during this quarter.
Mr Shaw said the Green Party would establish a Green Investment Bank to speed capital transition into a low-carbon economy, by helping to finance renewable energy plants, solar panel installations, energy efficiency retrofits and development and production of significant volumes of biofuels.
