Petroleum Reserves data released

21 May 2018

Details of New Zealand’s petroleum reserves as they stand at the beginning of 2018 have been released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

The data, compiled from assessments of permit holders’ annual summary reports, shows a five per cent decline in proved plus probable gas reserves estimates over the past year.

Gas reserves, defined as quantities that are commercially recoverable, stood at 1,985 Petajoules at 1 January 2018. It represents around 10.5 years of demand at 2017 demand levels.

The main driver of the decline is a 27.2 per cent decrease in gas reserves at the Pohokura field, while gas reserves at Mangahewa increased by 44.5 per cent.

Josh Adams, national petroleum manager, says: “The data is typically made available as part of MBIE’s yearly Energy in New Zealand publication released each September but a decision was made to bring forward its release to help inform debate around the status of the country’s petroleum reserves.

“Companies review their reserves on an annual basis. Variations from year to year are expected for a range of reasons, including technical and economic factors.”

The Government’s announcement in April to halt the granting of any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits prompted a high level of interest in the status of the reserves.

The data can be found here

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