Page 10 - AsianOil Week 09 2021

AsianOil OCEANIA 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

COMMENTARY NEW Zealand has found itself in the awkward Supply stoush
position of studying the feasibility of import- The country’s upstream potential was severely
ing liquefied natural gas (LNG) just three years limited by the government’s decision in April
WHAT: after imposing a moratorium on new offshore 2018 to ban all new offshore exploration. The
The country’s production exploration. island nation made the decision without consult-
is falling and it must Gas Industry Co. (GIC), an official body ing industry as part of its drive to reach net-zero
prepare for a potential that works with the government on industry carbon emissions by 2050.
supply deficit. regulation, requested proposals this week for However, the move has been questioned over
a study into importing LNG to fill gaps in the the years by critics, who argue that the coun-
WHY: national energy system. The request is part of a try will still need gas as it makes the transition
The government’s ban on wider study into the gas market the New Zea- toward a 100% green economy.
new offshore investment land Energy Ministry had requested, with GIC Even the Climate Change Commission said
has robbed investors expected to provide its Gas Market Settings in its draft advice to government in January that
of their appetite for the Investigation by the middle of the year. natural gas played a “significant role in the elec-
upstream. News of the import study comes just weeks tricity system by backing up renewable genera-
after it emerged that major gas user Methanex tion” and that eliminating this use case scenario
WHAT NEXT: had opted to shutter its plant at Waitara Val- was “likely to be expensive for the size of the
Dwindling gas supplies ley, owing to insufficient gas supply, and that emissions reductions they deliver”.
could see Methanex exit developer New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) GIC was quick to downplay the import
the country. 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

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 04•March•2021