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The Conversation
The Conversation
Environment
David Dempsey, Associate Professor in Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury

NZ’s gas shortage was not caused by the offshore exploration ban – but it was still a flawed policy

New Zealand ETS MBIE
Getty Images

Historically, gas in New Zealand traded below NZ$10 per gigajoule. When prices hit $50 per gigajoule in August this year, anyone with gas to sell could have made a lot of money.

But there clearly wasn’t much gas around. In the end, the big generators Genesis and Contact had to buy gas off Methanex to keep the lights on.

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