KEVIN STENT/STUFF

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during the April 12 announcement that the Government would offer no new offshore oil permits, with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones making his discomfort clear. Documents to be released today will show Cabinet is yet to make any decision on the move.

The Cabinet has made no decision on ending oil exploration, documents being released today will show, with April's announcement made on the basis of a political agreement between the coalition parties.

On April 12, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern led a group of ministerial colleagues into the Beehive theatrette to confirm news that the Government had decided it would offer no new offshore permits for oil and gas exploration, with onshore permits offered in Taranaki for as little as three years.

Although the news was delivered by ministers affected by the decision and in a forum usually used to discuss decisions made by the Cabinet, politicians made the decision in their roles as party leaders.

Today the Government will release a series of documents generated in the making of the oil and gas exploration decision, but it has already confirmed to Stuff that no Cabinet paper was created and that the Cabinet has not voted on the matter.

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"There was no Cabinet decision," a spokesman for Energy Minister Megan Woods said.

"The decision not to offer future offshore oil and gas exploration permits was made between the three coalition parties, and the Minister [Woods] was simply notifying Cabinet of that decision as well as noting that future cabinet decisions would be required to implement that decision."

The spokesman added that there was no requirement for the Cabinet to make a decision, but a Cabinet paper would be developed on implementing the decision.

"Officials are currently drafting advice on implementing the offshore decision and alongside this work, we've also begun discussions with industry about protecting rights of existing permit holders."

In a statement, Ardern defended the handling of the decision, but said it was not how most decisions would be made.

"The decision on future oil and gas block offers was a political decision made by the Government parties. It was consulted on and agreed between the parties and taken to Cabinet for confirmation," a spokesman for Ardern said.

"This is a normal decision making process when it comes to coalition wide matters, but does tend to be the exception rather than the rule."

National leader Simon Bridges described the process as "governing by decree" making decisions which would affect the productive sector without properly considering the impact.

"It's certainly no way to govern," Bridges said, adding that he had suspected there had been no Cabinet paper on the decision.

Bridges, a former energy minister, said he had been told by officials that they were expressly instructed not to provide advice.

"It's this vibe that they go on, rather than decisions, because they don't seem to understand the effect these things have, and it shouldn't be how you govern on economic matters."

The Opposition has accused the Government of hastening the decision to allow Ardern to announce it on the eve of her departure for a high profile trip to Europe. Ardern flew to Paris the day after the oil and gas decision was made.

A spokesman for Ardern said the exploration permit announcement was usually made around the time of the oil industry summit and "had nothing to do with the prime minister's trip to Europe".

On Friday industry publication Upstream reported that companies which had conducted seismic testing on a speculative basis were planning a legal challenge to the Government's decision, probably led by the Texas-based  International Association of Geophysical Contractors.

Ardern said that the issue was not raised during her recent trip to New Plymouth, a trip which came more than a month after the decision was announced.

"The Government has yet to be notified of any proposed legal challenge from the industry body. I met with the industry recently and no one raised this with me."

Upstream, extensively quoting unnamed sources, described a subsidiary of United States oil services giant Schlumberger among a group of companies "most affected" by the decision, warning of "significant" losses in revenue. Approached for comment the day the ban was announced, no one from Schlumberger has yet responded.

 - Stuff