Brown SimeonMINISTERIAL STATEMENTSGas Production—Low Supply ProjectionsHon SIMEON BROWN (Minister for Energy): I wish to make a ministerial statement relating to low gas production. This morning the Minister for Resources the Hon Shane Jones released a public statement following the release of updated projections from industry coregulator the Gas Industry Company. The assessment from the Gas Industry Company is dire. Insufficient gas is available to meet all contracted demand. As a result industrial gas use has reduced.It is important for the House to understand the magnitude of these updated projections. Natural gas production has decreased following the previous Government's decision in 2018 to ban gas exploration beyond Taranaki. Since 2018 New Zealand has imported record levels of coal from Indonesia. Gas production has fallen by 51 petajoules between the years 2018 and 2023; investment in gas exploration including to maintain production from existing wells has collapsed; and existing fields are now in decline. The speed of reductions in production has also exceeded expectations.Last year production was expected to be 147.46 petajoules; however only 146.56 petajoules were produced. That is a shortfall on projections of 12.5 percent. In the first three months of this year natural gas producers were expecting to deliver 42.6 petajoules but only 30.73 were produced. The difference in production is almost a 28 percent decline. The shortfall in production in the first three months of 2024 alone is almost twice the annual amount of gas used by residential consumers each year. This highlights the importance of New Zealand's natural gas supplies not only as a firming fuel for our largely renewable electricity sector but as a vital energy source for our manufacturers and exporters.Natural gas is a key input into the manufacturing of household chemicals low-emissions shipping fuels and fertiliser that improves the yields and productivity of our agriculture sector. It is also used extensively in food processing particularly in the dairy sector which is New Zealand's leading export earner. Unlike other countries natural gas in New Zealand is not exported or imported. All of the natural gas that is produced in New Zealand is used in New Zealand. Without the policy settings that enable more production New Zealand's manufacturing base and provincial economies will suffer and our country's competitiveness will decline. The coalition Government is committed to returning investment confidence in the natural gas sector so we can continue to produce the energy that powers our industries and keeps the lights on when renewables cannot do it alone. The Minister for Resources the Hon Shane Jones and I are working on a set of legislative reforms that we look forward to introducing to the House to support the gas sector. This includes taking decisions on the removal of the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.In the interim the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has established a gas security response group to coordinate gas producers major gas users and Government agencies while supply is tight. This group will be tasked with verifying the immediate supply and demand information to make sure we have a true picture of the problem; undertaking measures to make sure any impact of tight supply is managed by the large users who are best able to absorb the reduced supply; coordinating across Government the gas sector and electricity users to help identify and resolve any problems; and providing advice to Government on appropriate actions to ensure security of gas supply. This will help to also ensure that gas continues to be supplied to its most critical users such as schools and hospitals.The lights must stay on. Less natural gas will mean more coal being used to firm our electricity grid as Genesis confirmed this morning. If it is not gas that keeps the lights on then it must be coal. That is the reality of this situation the country finds itself in and it is why this coalition Government has made urgent decisions on coordinating gas supplies and will lift the 2018 ban.