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At Firstgas, part of Clarus, we're investing in the long-term health of our pipeline network. In Awakau, Taranaki, our team completed a complex repair on the Maui pipeline using innovative BISEP technology, the first time this tool has been used in New Zealand.

As New Zealand grapples with growing energy security concerns, a Kiwi company has secured major international backing to turn waste into renewable gas. Why are overseas markets moving faster than us?

New Zealand has abundant renewable energy resources. So why do we still need gas? Because electricity can't do every energy job, and renewable generation doesn't always meet demand when it's needed most.

Recent debate in New Zealand about LNG has focused heavily on cost, global markets and uncertainty. These are valid considerations. But the more fundamental question is what our energy system will require over the next decade, and how we manage those requirements in a practical way to support both energy and economic resilience.

Governments in New Zealand, Australia and Europe are investing in LNG import infrastructure to strengthen energy security during periods of supply constraint.

Across New Zealand this Waitangi weekend, meals will still be cooked with gas, hot showers will be flowing and businesses that rely on continuous energy will keep operating. For most people, it all happens seamlessly.

An independent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report, Energy to Grow: Securing New Zealand’s Future, finds that strengthening the gas market, securing backup fuel for electricity generation and continuing to build renewables at pace could lower wholesale electricity prices in New Zealand.

Following the rapid decline in the availability of gas for electricity generation, a group of major New Zealand energy companies have collaborated to explore the option to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) and assessed the role LNG could play to meet New Zealand’s future gas demand.

In 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand, causing billions of dollars in damage across the country and more than 140,000 landslides.

Gas storage and flexibility is vital to support the generation of renewable electricity, particularly in the winter months, over peak demand periods, and is becoming more important with the addition of new variable wind and solar generation capacity.

Firstgas, a Clarus company, is working with Omexon to better detect possible methane (natural gas) leaks early, on the Firstgas distribution network, using Street Evaluating Laser Methane Assessment (SELMA) vehicles.

It’s a confusing time for energy consumers, especially those using gas. We are told on the one hand that our country needs to go 100% electric and that our gas supplies are dwindling. Yet gas remains critical to supporting our country’s variable renewable electricity generation sources – a point that was made crystal clear with the threat of power shortages on the coldest day of the year so far.

New Zealand has been producing natural gas in Taranaki since 1959, when our largely rural nation had a population of just 2.5 million. Now our population has doubled, our industries have expanded, and our energy use has skyrocketed, and natural gas has been a cornerstone of our energy supply.