Greenpeace protest NZ oil drilling

Around 20 Greenpeace volunteers covered themselves in fake crude oil at Muriwai Beach, west of Auckland today.

This morning's protest aimed to drawing attention to the Government's plans to sell off the rights to carry out deep water oil drilling all around New Zealand's coast, Greenpeace communications officer Jay Harkness told NZPA.

"About 20 people showed up and we made our point successfully for about an hour."

The fake oil was a mixture of molasses and water.

Greenpeace was also gathering signatures for a petition against the Government's expansion of coal mining and deep water drilling. About 15,000 people have signed the petition since it was launched a month ago.

"Greenpeace is concerned about this because deep water drilling technologies are prone to accident," Mr Harkness said.

- AAP