Oil and gas industry in New Zealand

In 1865, the Alpha well was drilled near Mikotahi at New Plymouth. This was the first oil well in what is now the Commonwealth and one of the first in the world. A petroleum industry developed at Moturoa, including producing wells and refineries. The last refinery there was closed in 1972. The field continues to produce small quantities of oil. The Kapuni gas field in South Taranaki was discovered in 1959 and brought into production in 1970. The North Island natural gas network started operating in 1970, initially supplying Kapuni gas to Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Wellington. The off-shore Maui field was discovered in 1969 and brought into production in 1978. This supported the development of many large energy projects, including gas fired power stations at New Plymouth and Huntly, ammonia-urea plant at Kapuni, gas to methanol plant at Waitara and the synthetic petrol plant at Motunui. In 2018, the Sixth Labour Government announced that no new permits would be issued for offshore oil exploration. Later that year, the Labour-led government passed the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Act 2018, which banned the granting of new offshore oil and gas permits as part of the Labour-led government's climate strategy of transitioning away from fossil fuels. In 2021, the last of the deep sea oil and gas exploration permits outside Taranaki was surrendered. This was the Totara permit held by NZOG for an area in the Great South Basin of the south coast of the South Island. Following the collapse of the Taramind Taranaki's Tui oil field which led the New Zealand Crown to spend NZ$443 million on decommissioning costs, the Labour Government passed the Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 which obligated petroleum permit holders to fully fund and carry out decommissioning operations at oil wells. In late July 2025, the Sixth National Government passed legislation reversing the previous Labour government's ban on issuing new offshore gas and oil exploration permits. It also reduced petrol company's liability for the costs of decommissioning and cleaning up oil wells and infrastructure. ==Oil and gas fields==

Proven and probable (2P or P50) reserves, ultimate and remaining, as at 1 January 2019 Producing fields == Prospecting off the South Island coast ==

Offshore oil and gas is likely to become an increasingly important part of the South Island economy into the future. Origin Energy has formed a joint venture with Anadarko Petroleum, the second-largest independent U.S. natural gas producer, to begin drilling for oil in the Canterbury Basin off the coast of Dunedin. The 390 km2, Carrack/Caravel prospect has the potential to deliver more than the equivalent of of oil and gas. Market analyst, Greg Easton from Craigs Investment Partners commented that such a substantial find it could well turn Dunedin from the Edinburgh of the south to the Aberdeen of the south. The Great South Basin off the coast of Otago and Southland at over (covering an area 1.5 times New Zealand's landmass) is one of New Zealand's largest undeveloped offshore petroleum basins with prospects for both oil and gas. In July 2007, the New Zealand Government awarded oil and gas exploration permits for four areas of the Great South Basin, situated in the volatile waters off the Southern Coast of New Zealand. The three successful permit holders are: • a consortium led by ExxonMobil New Zealand (Exploration) Limited (United States) which includes local company Todd Exploration Limited (New Zealand); • a consortium led by OMV New Zealand Limited (Austria) which includes PTTEP Offshore Investment Company Ltd (Thailand), Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia Pty Ltd (Japan); and • Greymouth Petroleum Limited (New Zealand) == See also ==