Fracking jobs

Rob Maetzing at Stuff reports:

Venture Taranaki has joined in on the fracking debate, releasing a study that forecasts billions of dollars and thousands of jobs over the next decade if fracking is allowed to continue. …

It claims fracking has the potential to annually deliver almost $800 million in GDP and create more than 7000 jobs under a growth scenario over the next 10 years.

But if a moratorium is introduced and fracking is banned, the GDP would reduce to $215 million and create fewer than 2000 jobs.

“In an industry where a single well strike can add $1 billion onto the nation’s balance sheet, the value in optimising the productivity of existing wells cannot be underestimated,” the report says.

The report criticises perceptions that profits from oil and gas activity in New Zealand disappear offshore or into a central royalties fund, that it employs few New Zealanders, and that the nation does not benefit. “This simply isn’t the case.

“The economic rewards from oil and gas extend far beyond royalties. The value that could be added by fracking lies in jobs, innovation, added-value manufacturing, regional growth, and greater energy security for our national economy.”

New Zealand’s base-load domestic energy demand is 160 to 170 petajoules a year.

By 2018 the country is forecast to experience a shortfall between demand and supply, which will require either increased imports, new discoveries, and/or embracing new technologies that will enable the extension of existing fields.

“Fracking is one of those technologies, and can help New Zealand meet the energy demands of current and future generations,” the report says.

And in the UK, the Government has just given fracking the go ahead.