Source: Radio New Zealand
123RF
The country’s natural gas reserves have declined to the lowest level since records began twenty years ago.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment’s annual petroleum reserves data showed as of 1 January, natural gas reserves declined 23 percent from last year, to 731 petajoules.
The ministry said the decline was in line with operators’ field information and expected production.
The gas in the data is what is known as 2P gas, or proven plus probable – gas a producer expects to be commercially recoverable.
The biggest decline was at the Pohokura field, which reported a 129 petajoule decrease of 2P.
The decline was put down to a revision of estimates, rather than the gas’ ability to be extracted.
Around half of the remaining P2 gas (51 percent) is at the Turangi field.
New Zealand’s contingent gas reserves (gas which is known to exist but is not commercially recoverable) were down 3 percent from last year, to 1,950 PJ.
The ministry said this was partly due to some of the contingent gas at the Mangahewa field being promoted to the reserves.
Based on production profile data, the ministry expected 85 petajoules of gas to be produced in 2026.
Energy minister Simeon Brown said falling gas supply was a real problem for households and businesses.
“Gas is used to generate the electricity that keeps the lights on when the sun’s not shining, the wind’s not blowing, and the lakes are low,” he said.
“Without enough gas to back up renewable generation, power bills go up, factories shut down, and Kiwis lose their jobs.”
Brown said it highlighted why the government was taking actions like reversing the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, and procuring a liquefied natural gas import terminal.
“Every other comparable country in the OECD has access to secure, diversified gas supplies. New Zealand is the outlier, and we need to secure affordable energy,” he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand