With Saturday's general election looming, Greenpeace and other environmentalists have been increasing their hype against oil and gas exploration, particularly offshore but also in onshore Taranaki.

And a solitary objector, Sarah Roberts, has appealed the Stratford District Council's decision to issue resource consents to Canadian listed junior TAG Oil regarding the latest appraisal/development wells at its Cheal oil field. A commissioner must consider the appeals and is unable to conclude his investigations until mid-January at the earliest because of the Christmas and New Year break.

Chief operating officer Drew Cadenhead confirmed to EnergyNewsBulletin this morning that until that time TAG cannot start drilling again. This delay resulted in Ensign International making about 42 rig and associated staff redundant last Friday and paying them redundancy.

"We were hoping to get the Cheal-A6 and B9 wells drilled by Christmas but we cannot start drilling because we have not got all the necessary consents ... the real risk now is that we lose the guys to Australia.

"By the time we are able to resume drilling we might have lost some critical staff.

"We have worked hard to get a continuous drilling program going, which lowered overall drilling costs, but if a lot of the guys leave we will have to employ green hands, inexperienced people, which will cost us indirectly."

A single shallow onshore Taranaki well had cost up to $US3 million but TAG had reduced to only about $US1.5 million with its continuous drilling program, Cadenhead said.

And regional economic development agency Venture Taranaki says the increasing loss of the region's workforce to Australia is "a prime issue".

"Taranaki has become a prime target for its (Australia's) recruitment campaign," says chief executive Stuart Trundle.

"The effects of this must not be underestimated ... this is increasingly becoming a real challenge for us.

"It has become increasingly difficult to retain our experienced oil and gas workers - who are needed here to support our own industry. Technicians and trades people, professionals and labourers, are key occupational losses from Taranaki to Australia.

"We are particularly vulnerable, due to the Australia's insatiable demand for a workforce to service its oil and gas industry growth."

Venture Taranaki believes that the region is losing an average of almost 100 people per month to Australia.

It is known that in Australia young energy workers can earn up to twice what they earn in Taranaki and that the average age of this region's oil and gas workforce is now 50 years-plus.