NZ may lift ban on offshore oil exploration

New Zealand said on Monday it would pass laws by the end of this year to reverse a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, and take urgent steps to remove regulatory hurdles to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) amid energy shortages.

The law would end the ban, in place since 2018, on exploration outside onshore Taranaki, an energy-rich region on the country’s North Island as the right-of-centre government plans to lure investment to the country's oil and gas sector.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said severe shortages over the last few weeks had led energy prices to spike to some of the highest levels among developed economies.

“We are responding to a situation as I said New Zealand should never have seen in the first place,” Luxon said during a media briefing, and urged opposition parties to support the bill.

“It would be the sensible, common sense thing to do if they genuinely cared about New Zealand’s energy security.”

The previous centre-left Labour-led government banned offshore petroleum exploration.

Natural gas production fell by 12.5 per cent in 2023 and a further 27.8 per cent in the first three months of 2024, triggering a nationwide energy shortage as generators switched to more coal and diesel to power the grid, Energy Minister Simeon Brown said.

Renewables including hydro, solar and wind were not making up the shortfall, the government said.

“The lakes are low, the sun hasn’t been shining, the wind hasn’t been blowing, and we have an inadequate supply of natural gas to meet demand,” Brown said.

The government will also make it easier and cheaper to consent, build and maintain renewable power generation, and electricity distribution and transmission.

The consent and re-consenting processing period for most renewable energy projects will be done within one year, and the government will aim to open a first feasibility permit round for offshore renewable energy schemes in 2025, Brown said.