It\u2019s become a hot political topic as polling shows increasing concern from New Zealanders<\/a> about their power bill and some of the country\u2019s top business leaders say the security of energy supply<\/a> is among their top issues. <\/p>\n The coalition\u2019s reversal of the ban on new offshore gas exploration was intended to address<\/a> a lack of confidence by investors in the sector and shore up supply. However, critics argue any new exploration may not lead to much gas being found, and if it is, it could take years to come into production. <\/p>\n Gas reserves have been depleting quicker than predicted<\/a>, with Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) data showing that, as of January 1, 2025, reserves had reduced 27% compared to last year. <\/p>\n A March briefing to ministers said domestic gas supply<\/a> \u201cis not adequate to meet demand and reserves are falling faster than anticipated\u201d. It said this was primarily down to a \u201csignificant negative perception of the risk of investing\u201d in New Zealand\u2019s petroleum sector, as well as \u201cpoor drilling results in our ageing gas fields\u201d. <\/p>\n In his letter, Luxon said New Zealanders had for decades prospered \u201cthanks to an economic backdrop of abundant, affordable energy\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cBut with existing gas reserves falling, New Zealand is in the unenviable position of importing vast quantities of coal to keep the lights on. And with prices rising, manufacturers in regional New Zealand are being forced to contemplate their future, putting jobs and livelihoods at risk.\u201d <\/p>\n He said he was \u201chopeful\u201d the recent reversal of the ban on new offshore gas exploration would lead to additional reserves of gas being found in the years to come, \u201censuring a secure supply of fuel to support our energy transition\u201d. <\/p>\n Luxon said that under \u201ceven the most ambitious plans for New Zealand\u2019s renewable transition, a secure supply of fuel remains a cornerstone of our energy landscape \u2013 underpinning stability and affordability for families and businesses alike\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cSecuring that supply is a significant issue that deserves a credible, bipartisan approach \u2013 ensuring the political certainty necessary to achieve the investment New Zealand needs.\u201d <\/p>\n National and Labour have been calling for more bipartisanship<\/a>, including on infrastructure. However, both parties have also been critical of each other\u2019s commitment<\/a> to that. <\/p>\n Hipkins told the Herald on Monday night that bipartisanship \u201cis about working together on solutions to our country\u2019s biggest problems\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve offered to work with National on RMA, infrastructure, housing reform and just today, supported their plans to look at the standards for earthquake-prone buildings. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we will not sell out future generations of New Zealanders who expect us to tackle the challenge of climate change just to score cheap political points.\u201d <\/p>\n During last week\u2019s Mood of the Boardroom debate, Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said gas exploration was \u201conly a small part of the equation\u201d, confirming the ban on new exploration would be back under her party.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a wider part to the energy strategy that is needed. We want to work with the Government on the energy strategy,\u201d said Edmonds, adding that it took a long period of time before any gas would come into operation.<\/p>\n Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Edmonds\u2019 comments didn\u2019t reflect \u201creal bipartisanship\u201d and the sector had called for the Government to address fuel supply issues. <\/p>\n \u201cIt would give huge certainty to the country if Labour were able to say, of course, pragmatically, a bit of gas exploration is needed for energy policy certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour has said it will bring the ban back for new exploration, with its finance spokeswoman last week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8038,43699,23607,43700,138,3276,16426,23999,31382,3989,2354,16460,13480,6721,13489,5840,16427,6722,111,139,1536,69,4732,4762,415,27557,61,3552,3055,13632,1530],"class_list":["post-50447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-natural","tag-achieve","tag-approach","tag-bipartisan","tag-business","tag-chris","tag-christopher","tag-commit","tag-credible","tag-effort","tag-exploration","tag-gas","tag-hipkins","tag-labour","tag-leader","tag-least","tag-luxon","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-offshore","tag-party","tag-prime","tag-supporting","tag-to","tag-urges","tag-urging","tag-written","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is “hopeful” new gas will be found in the years to come. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says his party will look to be bipartisan if ideas are working. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n