Govt discuss end of oil and gas exploration with Taranaki business, local govt and stakeholders

Monday, 23 April 2018

Energy Minister Megan Woods visited Taranaki on Monday for meetings with those in the oil and gas industry.

Labour Coalition Energy Minister Megan Woods gave few details about her visit to Taranaki where she met with energy sector and local business leaders following the Government's decision to end offshore oil and gas exploration permits.

Woods visited Methanex, the large Canadian-owned company that produces methanol from natural gas.

Minister Woods visited Methanex, which uses 46 per cent of the country's gas production.

The minister also visited local industries and met with New Plymouth District Council Mayor Neil Holdom.

'We met with a range of community and local business leaders and stakeholders,' Woods said before flying back to Wellington late on Monday.

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However the Minister would not give any details on what was discussed.

'There were some really useful meetings,' she said.

Woods said she would soon be back in the region with cabinet colleagues and confirmed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern would visit Taranaki in May.

'We made it clear that this is the first of many meetings the government will be having with industry and community leaders and stakeholders in the region,' she said.

Methanex's operation, north of New Plymouth, is one of the region's major oil and gas sector employers and used about 46 per cent of the country's gas to produce methanol.

Methanex declined to comment on the ministers visit.

On Sunday Woods told TVNZ's Q&A programme Methanex depended heavily on the extension of an existing gas permit in the region next year.

Earlier this month Ardern announced the government was ending all new offshore exploration permits.

Onshore exploration permits will only be granted within Taranaki, but this will be reviewed in three years, the Prime Minister said.

ACT Party leader David Seymour said the Government was sending mixed messages, with Ardern labelling the decision as her generation's 'nuclear-free moment' and Woods assuring the industry that nothing has changed.

'The Government is talking out both sides of its mouth,' he said.

Mayor Neil Holdom said the local and central government, local businesses and iwi need to work together on the transition.

'We discussed the implications of the Government's new policy decision and I expressed concern about the uncertainty that this has created in our business community,' he said.

He said he also expressed a desire to see the government support the region and the developments in the Tapuae Roa Action Plan to broaden the economy.

'Minister Woods was focused on listening and I believe this government is committed to working with Taranaki's councils, with our business community, with iwi, and in particular with the energy sector to find our way forward,' he said.