Hydrocarbons & Biofuels
Gas, oil and coal
How much oil, gas and coal does New Zealand produce, and how is that changing? Where are the reserves?
This page explores those questions with MBIE's oil, gas, coal and reserves statistics. The layout follows the US Energy Data hydrocarbons page so differences between the two systems are easier to see. Every series here is national: New Zealand's fields sit almost entirely in Taranaki, so there is no state-style map.
Same sections, same order as US Energy Data: Hydrocarbons & Biofuels ↗, so the two can be read side by side. Where New Zealand data cannot support a chart, the slot stays and says why.
Annual crude oil production
How much crude oil and condensate does New Zealand produce? Output peaked in 2008 with the Tui and Maari fields and has declined since as fields deplete and no new ones are developed.
Compared with the US: MBIE reports in petajoules rather than barrels. National only; the US chart is by state.
Indigenous oil production
Crude and condensate produced in New Zealand, petajoules.
Loading chart…
Monthly crude oil production
The same series at a finer grain shows field start-ups, shut-ins and maintenance outages.
Compared with the US: MBIE's public oil tables are quarterly, not monthly.
Quarterly crude oil production
Indigenous crude and condensate each quarter, PJ.
Loading chart…
Proven oil reserves
How much is left in the ground? Reserves are revised each year as fields produce, get reassessed or are abandoned.
Compared with the US: MBIE's reserves release combines oil, condensate and gas in energy terms at the national level; the US chart is crude oil in barrels.
Remaining petroleum reserves
National 1P and 2P remaining reserves by vintage year, PJ.
Loading chart…
Gas reserves by field
Remaining proved and probable (2P) gas reserves, petajoules.
Loading chart…
Natural gas gross withdrawals
Gross production is everything that comes out of the wellhead, before reinjection, flaring and processing. New Zealand gas peaked in the early 2000s on Maui and has fallen sharply since 2020.
Natural gas production
Gross and net gas production, PJ.
Loading chart…
Natural gas marketed production
Net production is what reaches the market after reinjection, flaring, LPG extraction and field use. The same chart as above; switch to Net production in the dropdown.
Natural gas production
Gross and net gas production, PJ.
Loading chart…
Natural gas production by field
Gross production from named fields, PJ.
Loading chart…
Dry natural gas production
Dry gas is what is left after natural gas liquids are removed.
Chart not available for New Zealand
MBIE publishes gross and net production but not a separate dry-gas series. LPG extracted from the gas stream is reported separately in the gas tables.
Coal production
How much coal does New Zealand mine? Production halved after the Pike River disaster and the closure of the Solid Energy export mines; most of what remains is sub-bituminous coal for steelmaking, dairy processing and the Huntly power station.
Coal production
Total coal production, kilotonnes.
Loading chart…
Coal production by type
Production by coal rank, kilotonnes.
Loading chart…
Biofuels production
Ethanol and biodiesel blended into transport fuel.
Chart not available for New Zealand
New Zealand has no significant biofuel manufacturing and MBIE does not publish a production series. The sustainable biofuels obligation was repealed in 2023 before taking effect.
Also useful in New Zealand
Natural gas consumption by sector. Gas matters more for industry (methanol, urea, dairy) than for homes.
Natural gas consumption by sector
Final consumption by end-use sector, PJ.
Loading chart…