Government hypes gas crisis ahead of restarting drilling

Posted: 10 May 2024

Energy Minister Simeon Brown took the rare move of making a ministerial statement in Parliament on Wednesday, warning New Zealand could struggle to keep the lights on due to an unexpected shortage of gas supply in the latest regular update from the Gas Industry Company.

While the projections in the company’s report may have been a surprise to Brown and Resources Minister Shane Jones, a tightening of gas supply has been well-forecast for several years and widely expected by the industry. Indeed, the report itself specifies supply is within “expected volumes this year”, albeit at the bottom of that range.

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