1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,360
Speaker 1: Now the budget has put two hundred million dollars into

2
00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:04,480
Speaker 1: gas exploration. The money is going to be used to

3
00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:06,840
Speaker 1: take a ten to fifteen percent commercial steak in oil

4
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,800
Speaker 1: fields and gas fields. Rather. Former CEO and president of

5
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 1: method X Bruce Aken is with.

6
00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 2: Us, Hey, Bruce, oh good, have there good evening?

7
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:14,600
Speaker 1: Is it a good idea?

8
00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,119
Speaker 2: Yes? I think it is. Anything that encourages exploration for

9
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,720
Speaker 2: natural gas is great. It's a real pity that the

10
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:24,840
Speaker 2: government has to do it. But I think there's an

11
00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 2: inevitability that you need to take some risk out of exploration.

12
00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,360
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously what it's going to Well, the point

13
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:34,919
Speaker 1: of this thing is to kind of put the governments

14
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,559
Speaker 1: a bit of skin in the game and then encourage

15
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:39,080
Speaker 1: the investors and say we're not going to get rid

16
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,000
Speaker 1: of it because we now have money in it ourselves.

17
00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,199
Speaker 1: But surely it's only the things that we have money in, right,

18
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:45,839
Speaker 1: Everything else is still at risk, isn't it.

19
00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,479
Speaker 2: Yes? It is. The big issue here is maintaining the market.

20
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,200
Speaker 2: And when you think back to where those plants in

21
00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,440
Speaker 2: Taranniki came from, they were created to create a market

22
00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,960
Speaker 2: for natural gas, and out of that then you get

23
00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:06,160
Speaker 2: natural gas for dairy natural gas for electricity generation, natural

24
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,840
Speaker 2: gas that comes through our homes. So natural gas is

25
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,679
Speaker 2: an incredibly useful product. You know, the rest of the

26
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 2: world is meeting their climate change challenges by getting out

27
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 2: of coal and internatural gas. What we've done in New

28
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 2: Zuand is exactly the opposite. We've put a big dampner

29
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,360
Speaker 2: on natural gas exploration and importing record quandities of coal

30
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,040
Speaker 2: to keep the lights on over winter. So it makes

31
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 2: zero sense what has happened over the last five years.

32
00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,640
Speaker 1: Would two hundred million dollars be enough because I would

33
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,880
Speaker 1: imagine that would be just enough to buy a ten

34
00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,880
Speaker 1: percent steak in perhaps one exploration, isn't it.

35
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not a lot of money in that industry,

36
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,640
Speaker 2: and it could well be it's too little, too late,

37
00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,760
Speaker 2: But I think at least it's an effort to try

38
00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,440
Speaker 2: and address what is a I think is a desperate

39
00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:54,400
Speaker 2: problem for our country.

40
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:56,520
Speaker 1: So we were talking. I was talking to somebody about

41
00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,840
Speaker 1: this in the budget lock up, and they the point

42
00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,120
Speaker 1: that they made is we haven't found any new gas

43
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: in twenty years, and what gas we have found has

44
00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 1: not turned out to be viable in terms of putting

45
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:06,840
Speaker 1: your money into it.

46
00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,639
Speaker 2: Is that right, Well, that's not entirely true. I think

47
00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,240
Speaker 2: New Zealand is gas prone. So if you've drill enough holes,

48
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 2: you're going to find more gas. When you found big

49
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,160
Speaker 2: fields like Maoy, like Poakura and there are other meaningful

50
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,480
Speaker 2: fields around the Taraniki basin, there will be more gas

51
00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,000
Speaker 2: out there. It's just a matter of having a well

52
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,960
Speaker 2: planned program over a number of years. And that's the

53
00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 2: problem with this industry. There's a very long timelines. You

54
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,880
Speaker 2: spend a lot of money and then you need a

55
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:38,760
Speaker 2: market for the gas at the end of it. And

56
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,639
Speaker 2: it's only when the government kind of steps in and

57
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,079
Speaker 2: takes shoulders some of that risk that perhaps you can

58
00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 2: tempt others back into that space.

59
00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,320
Speaker 1: Okay, so is this enough to tempt others back into

60
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,520
Speaker 1: the space? Is this enough to get somebody to take

61
00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:54,720
Speaker 1: ninety percent with the government?

62
00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 2: Well, I guess we'll find out. Like it probably isn't

63
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:01,639
Speaker 2: It's better than nothing.

64
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hey, thank you so much, Bruce, really appreciate it.

65
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,079
Speaker 1: Bruce Acan, former CEO and president of Methodics.

66
00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,079
Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

67
00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 2: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

68
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,040
Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio,