4 | ENERGY OMV New Zealand “That’s why it is so important to have a mix of energy sources in the country. If you have a diverse choice of energy options, and don’t rely so much on imports; you have security.” Choice of energy options vital for NZ T Richard Loader OMV has been operating in New Zealand since 1999, providing natural gas to Kiwis as part of the energy transition. As New Zealand treads its path towards a net carbon zero world by 2050, it is worthy to note that we remain highly dependent on hydrocarbons – typically oil, gas and coal. When we talk about a high renewable energy we mostly mean electricity, but electricity by itself is only 20- 25% of the overall energy amount used in New Zealand. Currently hydrocarbons still provide a large portion of what New Zealand needs. “Obviously we need to consider climate change and reduce emissions, which means every country, including New Zealand, is transitioning to a lower carbon future, where gas plays a very important role,” says Henrik Mosser, MD of OMV Zealand. OMV New Zealand is a subsidiary of OMV Upstream, which is part of the OMV Group, one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. The company has been operating in New Zealand since 1999 and is a hydrocarbon producer providing natural gas to Kiwis as part of the energy transition. “Out of the hydrocarbons, natural gas is the lowest emission fuel. The second thing is that it is a domestic resource, which means it is generating value in New Zealand and contributing to the security of supply, which is extremely important. “If you look at the energy system in a country you need to look at its sustainability, which there is a huge emphasis on, and rightfully so. But, you also need to look at affordability to the people and the availability.” Availability equates to security of supply of energy when needed. Taking electricity as an example, 80 – 85% is generated from renewables, but that can fluctuate with dry summers or during periods of high demand, and that is where gas and coal step up to the plate. “Having gas domestically available and creating much lower emissions than coal, it is a much better alternative. If you look at Europe and what is happening in Ukraine for example you see how some countries depend on energy imports. That’s why it is so important to have a mix of energy sources in the country. If you have a diverse choice of energy options, and don’t rely so much on imports; you have security.” Henrik says in the future gas will transition from being hydrocarbon based to something like hydrogen or biogas, enabling further reduction to emissions towards zero carbon emitting gas. “The benefit of that is that you can use existing infrastructure after modification, like companies such as First Gas are already trialling. “That means transition is more affordable, because energy infrastructure projects – whether renewable or not – can be very time consuming and cumbersome. That’s where gas plays a key role, providing an important low emission fuel to the country to enable the time to build the capacity for new renewables or other options, before we go to the next step in a lower carbon future.” In New Zealand natural gas is used in industries like dairy for drying milk powder, it is used to generate fertilisers, it is used by T to page 6 Gentailers like Contact and Genesis, who use gas during periods of high demand to generate electricity. Liquid gas or LPG is sold to wholesalers who ultimately provide liquid gas in bottles where there is no pipeline gas connection, or used in BBQs, and around 400,000 homes are also recipients of gas through the different gentailers. And, it is a key resource in the petrochemical industry. A significant portion of the gas produced by OMV is purchased by Methanex and transformed into methanol which is then exported to the Asian market.
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