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New Zealand Oil Production And Consumption

Updated 30 Nov 2009

All oil currently produced in New Zealand is sold overseas because it is very high quality - and thus gains a premium price.

We import a lower quality (and therefore cheaper) oil and process it at the Marsden Point oil refinery into petrol and diesel.

Consumption data source

The consumption data to 2008 is from the BP Statistical Review 2009.

I have then projected a forecast of 5% consumption decline - this is only my guess.

I changed this from 3% late Nov 2008 after reading the IEA's Energy Outlook 2008 which estimates "that the average observed decline rate worldwide is 6.7%" [Chapter 10, p 243]. This decline rate refers to the oil production decline rate. Currently that decline is being matched or exceeded by new wells. The net result of that is; global oil production is on a "bumpy plateau". One day installing new wells will fail to meet or exceed the 6.7% decline rate. My guess is 2010 +/- 5 years.

Plus we're experiencing a dramatic financial crisis which is causing "demand destruction" - ie people are spending less which I believe will exacerbate consumption decline.

The current measured consumption high point was 2005.

Production data sources

The production data up to 2008 comes from Crown Minerals. The 2009 number (which includes the new Tui production) comes from Energyfiles.com who are projecting a production peak for NZ in 2010.

Play with the data youself: NZ-Oil-Consumption-and-Production-2007.xls

News

Oil production is rising sharply in New Zealand 4 Jan 2010

Increased domestic oil production is part of the reason New Zealand has already secured this year's emergency reserve 2 January 2010 [Note: the "emergency reserve" is not held in New Zealand, it's not even held overseas - it's a right to "priority buyer" status.]

NZ Oil Output Rises to 15-Month High... 22 Dec 2009

A 31.6 percent fall in the petroleum and petroleum products index... Stats NZ, 11 March 2009