Oil and gas ban goneburger

Shane Jones announced:

Removing the ban on petroleum exploration beyond onshore Taranaki is part of a suite of proposed amendments to the Crown Minerals Act to deal with the energy security challenges posed by rapidly declining natural gas reserves, Resources Minister Shane Jones says.

“Natural gas is critical to keeping our lights on and our economy running, especially during peak electricity demand and when generation dips because of more intermittent sources like wind, solar and hydro,” Mr Jones says.

“When the exploration ban was introduced by the previous government in 2018, it not only halted the exploration needed to identify new sources, but it also shrank investment in further development of our known gas fields which sustain our current levels of use.

“Without this investment, we are now in a situation where our annual natural gas production is expected to peak this year and undergo a sustained decline, meaning we have a security of supply issue barrelling towards us.”

Having the lights go out is not a sensible energy policy!

Rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s petroleum sector will require more than removing the ban. The Coalition Government is proposing further changes, agreed by Cabinet, to re-establish New Zealand as an attractive and secure destination for international investment. These changes were agreed in the New Zealand First and Act coalition agreements with the National Party.

Basically some sort of long-term contracts are needed, otherwise companies won’t commit to investments that a future Labour/Greens/TPM Government could make worthless.