Gas company urges political consensus on drilling for more fossil fuels
Flames on a gas stove.
Photo:
VIKTOR CAP / 123RF
Investors will not be drawn to new gas field developments without broad political consensus, according to one of the country's few oil and gas companies.
It comes as data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed the country's gas reserves
were running out faster than previous expectations
.
Echelon Resources, formerly New Zealand Oil and Gas, said it supported the government's $200 million plan to
co-invest in new gas fields
, but called for greater political backing.
Managing director Andrew Jefferies said New Zealand had gas prospectivity, but noted the nature of the industry meant the best wells were drilled first, and as basins matured, new drilling would have to occur in more difficult and more expensive wells.
But he said as not all political parties were in favour of new gas exploration, it made it difficult for investors to commit long-term to ensure a return on investment.
"As soon as you have political parties of any type saying 'well we're going to shut your industry down in the future', you just can't see that runway to invest now, to do the exploration, then to do the development and to produce the gas reserves," Jefferies said.
New offshore oil and gas exploration was
banned in 2018
under the Labour-New Zealand First coalition government, but the ban was
reversed
by the current National-New Zealand First-Act coalition.
Last year, Labour said the reversal sent the country "backwards", while the Greens said the government was "tipping oil and gas onto the climate crisis fire".
Jefferies said from an investment perspective, other countries offered better political consensus on gas.
"In other jurisdictions, we're getting a very clear message that actually there won't be ideology that's driving the decisions as to what's the best fuel. We believe, and investors in the industry believe, that gas will be around for a while."
Jefferies said if new gas fields were not developed, the country may have to start importing gas - which would require huge investment.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter
curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
Carrington Resort trial: Former manager defends actions in court
By Shannon Pitman, Open Justice reporter of Belle Mumby (inset) defended forgery charges related to her time working at Carrington Resort. Photo: Supplied / NZME / Open Justice A judge-alone trial against a former manager of a luxury resort accused of fraudulent behaviour has wrapped up but not before she had her say, painting a picture of mounting workloads and rightful entitlements. "I could foresee it would get worse," Belle Mumby said, defending the long hours she claims were justified, despite the resort's insistence otherwise. The former Carrington Resort operations manager has spent the past two weeks facing charges of theft, deception, and forgery in a judge-alone trial in the Whangārei District Court. The Crown alleges Mumby photocopied CEO Jing Ma's signature on an overtime form and claimed payments she wasn't entitled to. She is also accused of using the company account for personal purchases and selling resort-owned equipment - a trailer and post rammer - for $3000 and keeping the proceeds. Mumby maintains Ma approved the photocopied overtime document because she was often unavailable to sign off. She also claims the purchases were for the resort and argues the equipment was unusable, with Ma allegedly pocketing some of the funds. The prosecution's key witness, Ma, faced five days of cross-examination by defence lawyer Wayne McKean. She repeatedly asserted Mumby had stolen from the resort and that none of the overtime claims, purchases, or equipment sales were authorised. Before Mumby took the stand on Tuesday, the resort's payroll clerk, Wendy Weng, said all the overtime forms needed approval with a higher authority signature. Weng was presented an email from Mumby which stated Ma was happy for her to sign off her leave forms from now on. Weng also assumed this included overtime as well. "I saw Jing was included in this email so I assumed Jing was in agreement and she didn't reply otherwise," Weng said. Mumby, taking the stand on Tuesday, said she foresaw her overtime hours increasing as summer approached and waiting for the CEO to sign off was impossible as she was never there. Belle Mumby said she was authorised to do the overtime and purchase items. Photo: Supplied / NZME / Open Justice She claimed Ma suggested signing blank forms that she could later photocopy and complete based on hours worked. "She indicated to me she would come less and less in the future so I [asked] her 'So what happens to my overtime?' I need the verification'," Mumby said. "She suggest[ed] no need to worry about that, she would sign on the blank form and I would go to photocopy it and fill out whatever hours I did, then I can claim it." Mumby said she followed the procedure she was told to do. Regarding the alleged unlawful purchases such as AirPods, iPads, a phone, security cameras and Oral B electric toothbrushes, Mumby insisted they were for the resort or for her job productivity. Ma had previously given evidence that the post rammer and trailer that Mumby allegedly sold were valued at $100,000. But Mumby said both the items were sitting with a pile of rusted machinery, were of no use and sold for $3000. During cross-examination by Crown lawyer Danica Soich, it was suggested to her that clients would never use Oral B electric toothbrushes that may have been previously used by others. Soich pointed out that several items purchased on the resort's account were found at Mumby's house or in her car, including an unopened security system. "There was never a plan to return those items, was there?" Soich asked. "No, I was going to bring them back after sorting myself out from Hong Kong," Mumby replied. "You felt entitled to more than what you were receiving from Carrington?" Soich pressed. "No, I'm happy," Mumby responded. "You bought those items for yourself," Soich alleged. "No, that is wrong," Mumby countered. Mumby said that upon her return from her trip to Hong Kong, she was brought into Ma's office, fired and promised a discussion that never happened. The trial closed on Thursday and Judge Taryn Bayley has reserved her decision. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
Scoop
10 hours ago
- Scoop
Five Countries Elected To Serve On UN Security Council
03 June They will serve through the end of 2027 on the UN body responsible for maintaining international peace and security. They will join the five non-permanent members elected last year – Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia – who will serve through 2026. The incoming members will succeed Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia, whose terms end in December 2025. The Security Council has 15 members: five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – who hold veto power, and ten non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for staggered two-year terms. Elections are held annually by secret ballot, with seats allocated by regional group. Candidates must secure a two-thirds majority in the 193-member General Assembly to be elected. Vote tally A total of 188 Member States participated in the election, which required only one round of balloting. In the African and Asia-Pacific group, Bahrain received 186 votes, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) garnered 183 votes, and Liberia received 181 votes, with one country abstaining. In the Eastern European group, Latvia received 178 votes while 10 countries abstained. In the Latin America and the Caribbean group, Colombia received 180 votes, with eight countries abstaining. Debut for Latvia Latvia will take a seat on the Council for the first time in its history. With the exception of Latvia, all the elected countries have previously served: Colombia seven times, the DRC twice, and Bahrain and Liberia once each. Regional groups The non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed according to four regional groupings: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Western European and other States group. This year's election filled five seats: two allocated to Africa, one to Asia-Pacific, one to Eastern Europe, and one to Latin America and the Caribbean.
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
Māori, Pacific removed from extra education funding priorities
The Tertiary Education Commission warns it doesn't have enough money to cover enrolment growth next year. Photo: AFP The government will remove extra funding for Māori and Pacific enrolments in vocational courses, and trim funding for workplace training. The Tertiary Education Commission told institutions this week it was "reprioritising a small amount - approximately 8 percent - of learner component funding towards provider-based delivery rates, through the removal of Māori and Pacific learners as an eligible category". The weightings for Māori and Pacific enrolments were worth $152 for each student enrolling in work-based level 1-2 certificates and courses at levels 3-6, and $364 per student in non-degree level 7 courses. However, the $1327 weighting for disabled students and students with low prior educational achievement would continue. The payments were added to subsidies for courses offered by polytechnics and private providers, ranging from $6584 for humanities and business courses to nearly $11,786 for health, science, engineering and agriculture, and $19,753 for special agriculture. The commission said funding for work-based training and education would drop 10 percent, while also repeating warnings from earlier in the year that it would not have enough money to cover enrolment growth next year . "Current forecasts indicate the demand for funding will be greater than what we have available to allocate," it said. "Given the multi-year nature of much education and training, we will need to prioritise our future investment." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
