The oil and gas industry in New Zealand explores and develops oil and gas fields, and produces and distributes

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

products and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. In 2018, New Zealand's self-sufficiency in oil (mmbls production divided by consumption) was 17%, i.e. the country imports its petroleum product needs. All local oil production is exported as the New Zealand refinery is not suited to processing it. In 2018, 60

petajoule The joule ( , ; symbol: J) is the unit of energy in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton displaces a mass through a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force applied. ...

s of crude were produced in New Zealand, 380 PJ of petroleum products imported (most of it crude), and 283 PJ consumed. The difference is exported or used for international travel (

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhanc ...

and similar). Oil and gas are produced from 21 petroleum licenses / permits, all in the Taranaki basin. The most important fields are

Kapuni Kapuni is an onshore natural gas-condensate field located in the Taranaki Basin, a ~100,000 km2 partially-inverted rift basin on the Taranaki Peninsula in the North Island, New Zealand. Discovered in 1959 and brought into production in 1970 ...

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

, Pohokura and

Kupe Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is ge ...

. Exploration for oil and gas reserves includes the

Great South Basin The Great South Basin is an area of mainly sea to the south of the South Island of New Zealand. Starting in the 1960s, the area was explored and drilled for oil deposits by various, mostly international minerals companies — including Hunt Oil ...

and offshore areas near Canterbury and Gisborne. New Zealand had one

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

, the

Marsden Point Oil Refinery Marsden Point Oil Refinery is a 96,000 BPD refinery located at Marsden Point, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand. It is the only oil refinery in New Zealand, and is operated by Refining NZ. The point was named after Samuel Marsden. The regional sur ...

, but its refining capability was closed in 2021 and is now an import only facility. The major industry body is the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand. There are 2,600 kilometres of high-pressure natural gas transmission pipelines in the North Island. Most of these are owned and operated by

First Gas First Gas Limited is a natural gas transmission and distribution company in New Zealand. First Gas's network has 2,204 km of high pressure pipelines and 4,800 km of gas distribution pipelines. Through Flex Gas, First Gas owns and operates the Ah ...

, including the Maui pipeline, a 307 km pipeline that carries 78% of all natural gas produced in New Zealand. The low-pressure gas pipelines that distribute gas to end users are owned by First Gas (Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Kapiti Coast),

Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

(Auckland),

Powerco Powerco is the second-largest gas and largest electricity distributor in New Zealand. It is one of only two companies to distribute both electricity and natural gas through their network (the other being Vector Limited). Its network delivers el ...

(Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu, Wellington) and GasNet (Wanganui). The largest retailers of gas are

Contact Energy Contact Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation, electricity generator, a wholesaler of natural gas, and a retailer of electricity retailing, electricity, natural gas, broadband and Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG. It is the second- ...

and

. There is no natural gas transmission in the South Island. New Zealand has one underground gas storage facility, the

Ahuroa Gas Storage Facility The Ahuroa Gas Storage Facility is an underground natural gas storage facility situated at Ahuroa in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, owned by Flex Gas, a subsidiary of First Gas. Flex Gas is the trading name of Gas Services New Zealand. The ...

History

In 1865, the Alpha well was drilled near Mikotahi at

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

. This was the first oil well in what is now the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

and one of the first in the world. A petroleum industry developed at

Moturoa Moturoa is a coastal suburb of New Plymouth, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the west of the city centre, bordering Port Taranaki and the Sugar Loaf Islands. One of the islands, Moturoa, the largest, shares it ...

, including producing wells and refineries. The last refinery there was closed in 1972. The field continues to produce small quantities of oil. The

gas field in South Taranaki was discovered in 1959 and brought into production in 1970. The North Island natural gas network started operating in 1970, initially supplying Kapuni gas to Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Wellington. The off-shore

field was discovered in 1969 and brought into production in 1978. This supported the development of many large energy projects, including gas fired power stations at

and

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

, ammonia-urea plant at Kapuni, gas to methanol plant at Waitara and the synthetic petrol plant at

Motunui Motunui (''large island'' in Māori, from ''Motu Nui'') is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, six kilometres east of Waitara. ...

. In 2018, the government announced that no new permits would be issued for offshore oil exploration. In 2021, the last of the deep sea oil and gas exploration permits outside Taranaki was surrendered. This was the Totara permit held by NZOG for an area in the Great South Basin of the south coast of the South Island.

Oil and gas fields

Proven and probable (2P or P50) reserves, ultimate and remaining, as at 1 January 2019 Producing fields

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals
part of the

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE; mi, Hīkina Whakatutuki) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic p ...

1900s photos of oil wells, Auckland Council
{{Economy of New Zealand Petroleum in New Zealand Natural gas in New Zealand New Z