New Zealand Revives Gas Exploration with Open Market Applications

Petroleum operators can once again apply for new prospecting and exploration permits beyond onshore Taranaki, enabling the work needed to grow New Zealand’s dwindling gas reserves, says Resources Minister Shane Jones.

In addition to the Block Offer competitive tender process, a new open market application pathway has been introduced to allocate new permits—providing a more responsive mechanism to align with investor interest and incentivise bold exploration plans.

Confidence in the gas sector took a significant hit when the exploration ban was introduced in 2018, impacting investment in our producing fields and preventing the vital new exploration needed to meet demand in the years to come, Mr Jones says.

This has left a gaping hole in New Zealand’s medium-term energy security, and while we continue to progress options to provide interim relief, we need to get the sector back to work to play catch-up.

The open market application process better balances this urgency with robust competition by allowing an operator to apply for prospecting and exploration acreage as soon as they are ready. Regulator New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals will then call for competing applications over the same acreage for a period of three months, ensuring permits are granted based on the best proposed work programmes and outcomes.

Block Offer tenders are a great promotional tool that can still be utilised in the future, but right now my focus is on reviving exploration activity in new prospects and existing gas-producing reserves as soon as possible.

To support this, Mr Jones says he will have further detail to share shortly on the Coalition Government’s tagged contingency of $200 million through Budget 2025 for co-investment in new gas fields.

Hobby miners can also apply for permits under a new Tier 3 category from today, making it easier for people to undertake small-scale gold mining activity across the country. The streamlined process better balances the levels of regulatory scrutiny with the types of activities used in hobby mining.

This new permit category is great news for the 200 hobby miners predominantly operating on the West Coast and in Otago – and many more who have been put off seeking approval due to stringent regulatory requirements and compliance costs designed for larger operations, Mr Jones says.

The streamlined application tests and reduced annual reporting requirements cut regulatory burden and frees up New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals to focus on higher-value, more complex applications.

Read more at Crown Minerals Act law changes - New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals