Given the potential for both economic bonanza and environmental disaster attached to deep-sea oil and gas drilling in New Zealand's ocean territory, it does seem extraordinary that to date rules relating to such activities have been makeshift and incomplete.
To this extent, the announcement by the Government last week of interim measures to address obvious concerns while legislation is drafted, is to be welcomed.
These measures include a requirement on the part of oil exploration companies to submit environmental impact assessments to the Environmental Protection Authority, and to show compliance with the latest drilling safety rules developed in the United States following the inquiries into the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
However, judgement as to the adequacy or relevance of the legislation will have to wait until it is further formed. Environment Minister Nick Smith has introduced a Bill to Parliament to manage the environmental effects of activities in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the extended continental shelf (ECS).
It will have its first reading next month, go to a select committee for public submissions, and be passed in the first half of 2012 if National wins the election in November. Quite rightly, this process is likely to be marked by rigorous debate, for the stakes are high.
Opposition parties have been pressing for more explicit rules to govern oil exploration at sea, and as Dr Smith says, the purpose of the Bill will be to ensure the New Zealand environment is protected while allowing for the economic growth and benefit that, it is argued, would inevitably accompany any future large-scale offshore developments.
Some, including the Green Party, are already arguing that there can be no guarantee of safety in deepwater drilling and that unique marine and coastal environments will be put at risk.
The arrival of the Bill before the House comes not a moment too soon, for the issues surrounding it have become pressing in this country.
Earlier this year, with memories still raw from the Deepwater Horizon calamity, the gathering of seismic data off the East Cape by Brazilian oil giant Petrobras ran afoul of protests by local iwi and Greenpeace.
This month, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp deferred until next year a test drilling programme in the Canterbury Basin - in up to 1500m of water about 65km off the coast from Dunedin.
Two weeks ago, Shell New Zealand announced it had joined a venture to explore the Great South Basin for oil and natural gas. Together with Austrian oil company OMV, Shell will test drill at depths of 800m to 1200m in the basin off the southeastern coast of Otago/Southland - which brings the issues involved close to home.
At their simplest, many of these can be boiled down to economic benefit versus environmental danger. Announcing the proposed exploration, Shell New Zealand stated that the company had developed "capping systems for work globally", and in the event of any clean-up liability, Shell "would foot the bill. Fullstop".
While the confidence of the company may be admirable, there are many to be convinced that the technology exists to curtail massive spillage should leaks occur.
And it was perhaps unfortunate for Shell that its exploration joint venture in the South was announced as the company battled an oil leak from its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea off the coast of Aberdeen. But this should not disqualify exploration. It will be many years before anything comes of such ventures - possibly as long as 10 years according to the company.
In the meantime, it might be expected that technological advances will make the extraction of oil or gas safer; and that, there will be in place firm legislation to protect the marine wildlife and the country's rugged and beautiful coastline should extensive resource deposits be found.
Notwithstanding the ongoing and likely acceleration of the development of renewable energy sources, which is to be encouraged, there will likely remain a need for gas and oil.
A greater degree of fuel self-sufficiency will bring its own benefits, but so will the industry that could grow up round it in Dunedin. Legislation that plots a safe way forward into such potentially risky waters must be drafted with utmost rigour and care.
