5:32 pm today

No new oil and gas fields likely to be discovered in next 10 years - govt

From Checkpoint, 5:32 pm today

No new oil and gas fields are likely to be discovered in the next ten years. That's according to the government's own advice on repealing the oil and gas exploraton ban. The latest modelling, urgently released under the Official Information Act and obtained by RNZ, says in the short term repealing the ban is not likely to significantly bolster gas supplies from existing fields, either. Instead, the analysis shows government officials think reversing the ban will encourage fossil fuel companies to release more gas for extracton from the existing fields.