Government to announce decision on natural gas imports

According to the newsroom, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will announce details of the government’s policy on the import of liquefied natural gas at his press conference following the cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon.

The final details of the policy are still being worked out by ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting. However, Energy Minister Simeon Brown said: questions and answers On Sunday, the government tried to reduce the hurdles to private imports of liquefied natural gas instead of interfering itself.

He said LNG could be imported into the former Marsden Point oil refinery, the Port of Taranaki or an offshore drilling rig. The infrastructure to do this would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Brown added – significantly more than the $80 million to $180 million estimate made by consultancy Enerlytica two weeks ago.

Brown specifically cited permitting issues as the biggest obstacle to building an LNG import facility, giving rise to speculation that the government will try to speed up permitting processes for LNG-related facilities.

The energy industry hopes that importing liquefied natural gas will provide relief as domestic gas supplies dwindle.

It is unclear whether the government will meet calls for a restructuring of the wholesale electricity market. On Sunday, Brown said the government was solely focused on increasing electricity supply, not the market.

“The government is currently considering a number of measures to encourage electricity generation. But that is the key: we want a more competitive market,” he said.