Govt facing embarrassing gas law U-turn

Most new gas drilling in NZ is likely to be onshore rather than offshore. (Image: NZME)

Mon, 09 Dec 2024

The Government has bowed to huge pressure to make a politically embarrassing backdown on legislation that the country’s gas producers say will stop new drilling in its tracks, imperilling electricity and industrial gas supply over the next few years.The Crown Minerals Amendment Bill passed through its committee stages on Nov 19 and included an amendment that ministers thought would reduce gas field owners’ risk of exposure to enormous gas field decommissioning costs.Instead, technical drafting errors in the amendment have caused dee...

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