Page 8 - AsianOil Annual Review 2021

AsianOil MARCH AsianOil

New Zealand studies

LNG import feasibility

The official Gas Industry Co. (GIC) is seeking to commission a study
into the feasibility of importing LNG to plug gaps in national supply

OCEANIA NEW Zealand has found itself in the awkward Supply stoush
position of studying the feasibility of importing The country’s upstream potential was severely
WHAT: LNG just three years after imposing a morato- limited by the government’s decision in April
The country’s production rium on new offshore exploration. 2018 to ban all new offshore exploration. The
is falling and it must Gas Industry Co. (GIC), an official body island nation made the decision without consult-
prepare for a potential that works with the government on industry ing industry as part of its drive to reach net-zero
supply deficit. regulation, requested proposals in March for carbon emissions by 2050.
a study into importing LNG to fill gaps in the However, the move has been questioned over
WHY: national energy system. The request is part the years by critics, who argue that the coun-
The government’s ban on of a wider study into the gas market the New try will still need gas as it makes the transition
new offshore investment Zealand Energy Ministry had requested, toward a 100% green economy.
has robbed investors with GIC expected to provide its Gas Market Even the Climate Change Commission said
of their appetite for the Settings Investigation by the middle of the in its draft advice to government in January that
upstream. year. natural gas played a “significant role in the elec-
News of the import study comes just weeks tricity system by backing up renewable genera-
WHAT NEXT: after it emerged that major gas user Methanex tion” and that eliminating this use case scenario
Dwindling gas supplies had opted to shutter its plant at Waitara Val- was “likely to be expensive for the size of the
could see Methanex exit ley, owing to insufficient gas supply, and that emissions reductions they deliver”.
the country. developer New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) GIC was quick to downplay the import
had walked away from its Clipper exploration review, noting that it was simply seeking to
permit. develop an energy supply model that could
Industry group Petroleum Exploration inform energy security understanding.
and Production Association of New Zealand “It is in no way a step closer, it’s nothing to
(PEPANZ) described GIC’s investigation on do with a live proposal. It’s a scenario-building
March 3 as “disappointing but unsurprising”, exercise,” a GIC spokesman told Stuff. “This is
before adding that importing LNG from Aus- just part of a broader study. We’ve gone out to
tralia would be “crazy when we have our own market this week for consultancies ... all we’ve
local resources here”. done is asked [experts] to do some modelling

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