The New Zealand Petroleum Conference is coming to Wellington!

The New Zealand Petroleum Conference will be hosted in Wellington in 2018.

The 2018 Conference will be held from 26-28 March and will be hosted in the heart of the city.

Wellington is New Zealand's political and creative capital, famous for its vibrant culture, great food, coffee and craft beer and the city promises to be a fantastic host for the 2018 Conference.

Stay tuned for programme and registration details, which will will follow over the coming months.

Join us and celebrate at the Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards

Join us for the sector's biggest night of the year. The 2017 Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards will be held on Wednesday 9 August at The Langham, Auckland.

You and your team can be part of the celebrations and networking on the night, as we recognise success and achievement across the energy sector.

PEPEANZ is proudly sponsoring the Community Initiative of the Year, an award for an outstanding initiative that has demonstrated wide reaching benefits to both the organisation and community involved.

Book your tickets and learn more about the finalists

**Engineering Marvel Prelude sets sail**

In an incredible feat of engineering, the Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility Prelude set sail last week from South Korea to Western Australia.

Prelude is the largest offshore facility ever constructed and has three times the capacity of its nearest rival. Operated by Shell as part of joint venture with KOGAS and Inpex, Prelude will operate off the coast of Western Australia over the next 20-25 years.

Estimated to cost around $US12.5 billion, it will produce 400,000 tonne of LPG per year and about 36,000 barrels per day of condensate, and is expected to arrive in Australia about 30 July 2018.

Guest Columns: National versus Labour

In the lead up to this year's General Election, we asked National's Energy and Resources spokesperson Hon Judith Collins and Labour's Energy and Resources Spokesperson Dr Megan Woods to outline their views on New Zealand's oil and gas sector.

National Energy and Resources spokesperson Hon Judith Collins:

I consider the oil and gas industry to be extremely important to New Zealand – and we shouldn’t be afraid to say that. The sector is a significant contributor to New Zealand’s economy, and is integral to our quality of life.

However, the reality is, few people outside the industry fully appreciate the huge contribution and potential of oil and gas. I’d like to see that change, so I take every possible opportunity to talk about the sector with people all over New Zealand.

I’ve seen first-hand, the hugely positive impact that taking advantage of petroleum resources can have on a country the size of ours. The public benefits are massive. We’re lucky have so much potential opportunity in New Zealand.

We have a long and productive history in petroleum in New Zealand, and I see that continuing – to our benefit – for the foreseeable future. Oil and gas will be needed for many decades to come. The International Energy Agency is forecasting that oil and natural gas will account for almost half of the world’s energy needs until at least 2040.

I also think there are real opportunities for expanding on the wider perception of petroleum as just a product that’s used as a transport fuel. Some may be surprised to find out just how widely it’s used in a range of products that underpin our daily life – from plastics and clothing to fertilisers for agriculture and materials for smartphones. One day we may even be wondering why we ever burnt it!

Labour Energy and Resources Spokesperson Dr Megan Woods:

Since becoming Labour’s Energy portfolio in March this year, I have thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity it has afforded me to engage with so many across this wide-ranging sector.

New Zealand’s energy sector is hugely significant in terms of employment and gross domestic product (GDP), and in particular the area of oil and gas which contributes over $2.5 billion to GDP. Many of the workers in that area are highly skilled and specialised.

The challenge for any government is to devise an

energy policy that responds to the urgent global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also avoids destructive shocks to the economy and ensures security of energy supply

Avoiding shocks for industry and those employed in those industries requires transition planning. This is a transition that New Zealand and the world cannot delay and requires careful planning and implementation. We need to understand the role natural gas can play in the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables. In order to be meaningful and achieve the required objectives, planning will need the input and commitment from government, industry and the workforce. We also need to consider value-added utilisations of the resource in a carbon-neutral world and what opportunities new technologies can offer New Zealand in this area.

In order to meet our international emission reduction obligations we need to look across our whole economy and not leave some sectors to carry the burden. This means that the emission trading scheme must be both comprehensive and include agriculture.

Greenpeace Charged

Last week, MBIE laid two charges against Greenpeace under the Crown Minerals Act for interfering with the Amazon Warrior while it was undertaking a seismic survey off the east coast of the North Island.

The charges against Greenpeace follow the earlier charges against Greenpeace NZ Director Russel Norman and two others after they jumped into the water in front of the ship.

New Zealand First announces royalties policy

New Zealand First have launched a policy advocating returning 25 percent of petroleum and other royalties back to the region they were extracted from.

We advocate the majority of petroleum royalties be dedicated to the benefit of future generations by allocating them to an investment fund with a long-term focus.

We have outlined our position on a number of areas in our policy platform Advancing New Zealand's Petroleum Sector.

PEPANZ's Policy Platform

Find us on Facebook!

Did you know that we are on Facebook?

Facebook allows us to communicate with greater numbers of New Zealanders and help shape the debate about the future of New Zealand's petroleum industry, share some fun facts and engage and share stories about our industry.

We would love you to join us by liking our page and helping us share the good news!

Click here to find us on Facebook