The Tariki Gas Storage Project will convert the depleted onshore Tariki gas field into 15–30 Bscf (17–33 PJ) of secure underground storage — flexibility for an energy system facing dry years, supply decline, and an uncertain transition. Final investment decision targeted Q4 2026, first storage operations Q4 2027.
Domestic gas production is declining faster than expected. Hydro lakes run dry. Methanex is curtailing demand. The grid is leaning harder on gas peaking just as the gas itself becomes scarce. Storage is the missing link.
The Tariki gas field produced ~50 Bscf of gas before depletion. Studies indicate it can safely store between 15 and 30 Bscf (17 to 33 PJ) — the Ahuroa field, immediately to the south, is built on the same Tariki Sandstone in the Taranaki overthrust, and has been operating successfully as storage since 2011.
TGSP repeats a workflow already proven in New Zealand. Ahuroa was converted to storage in the same Tariki Sandstone formation, at similar depth, but a 1000 psia lower initial pressure (so TGS will have a larger pressure operating range) and has been operating reliably for over a decade. The geology is well understood; the engineering pathway is established.
The reservoir is sealed by an overlying cap rock of low-permeability mudstone. Gas is injected when prices and demand are low, and withdrawn through dedicated wells when the grid needs flexibility — during dry hydrology, winter peaks, or unplanned generator outages.
Once commissioned, the facility integrates with the existing gas transmission network and can deliver gas to industrial users, electricity generators, or both — depending on which market is paying the most that day.
| Permit | PMP 38138 |
| Permit status | Extended 5 years |
| Operator | NZ Energy Corp |
| Location | Taranaki Basin |
| Reservoir formation | Tariki Sandstone |
| Reservoir depth | ~2,500 m |
| Historical production | ~50 Bscf |
| Target working capacity | 15–30 Bscf |
| Equivalent in PJ | ~17–33 PJ |
| Listing | TSXV: NZ |
A single underground storage facility serves multiple markets and multiple customer types — each solving a different problem in New Zealand's energy system. Capacity is contracted through firm and interruptible arrangements tailored to how each customer intends to use it.
Large industrial gas consumers — dairy processors, methanol producers, food manufacturers, steel — cannot afford unplanned interruptions. When upstream fields go offline or the transmission network is constrained, unbuffered users face expensive shutdowns or forced coal switching. Firm storage capacity provides the buffer that keeps production lines running.
New Zealand gas prices have moved from around $6/GJ in 2017 to over $14/GJ, with spot prices exceeding $30/GJ during shortage events. Storage lets purchasers inject when the market is soft and withdraw when prices spike — converting exposure to price volatility into a physical hedge and stabilising input costs across the year.
Gas demand peaks in winter — heating loads, hot water, and dry-year electricity generation — but upstream production is relatively flat. Storage bridges this shape: injected during shoulder seasons when demand is low, withdrawn through winter. Producers can optimise fields for recovery and pipeline utilisation while the wider system meets variable, seasonal demand.
Underground storage in depleted reservoirs is inherently safer and cheaper at scale than above-ground LNG tanks — no cryogenic pressure vessels, no exclusion zones, no BLEVE risk. Gas is held under geological seal in a formation that has held natural gas for millions of years. If New Zealand moves to LNG imports, TGSP becomes the natural long-term buffer between the receiving terminal and downstream demand.
A gas storage asset earns differently in different conditions — quietly profitable in normal years, transformative in tight ones. These scenarios bracket what a contracted, fully operational TGSP could deliver to the New Zealand energy system, scaled from observed Ahuroa economics.
TGSP is now through the technical and regulatory de-risking phases. With the PMP extended and the geological work complete, the project is progressing toward final investment decision in Q4 2026 and first storage operations in Q4 2027.
Reservoir modelling, storage capacity studies, and confirmation that the Tariki Sandstone behaves analogously to the Ahuroa storage reservoir.
Full workshop documentation synthesising reservoir modelling, geological data, and operational risk for stakeholder review.
Regulatory approval secured under the Crown Minerals Act. The extended permit provides the runway required to progress the storage development through construction and into operations.
Securing capacity reservation agreements with gentailers and industrial gas users, alongside FEED for wellsite facilities, compression, and dehydration. Consistent with the fully-contracted Ahuroa precedent.
FID upon completion of front-end engineering design, customer contracts, and financing. Immediate project sanction into construction phase.
Wellsite facilities, compression, dehydration, and connection to the gas transmission network. Wells worked over for cyclic injection and withdrawal duty.
Initial gas injection cycle, followed by first withdrawal into the New Zealand gas transmission network.
New Zealand Energy Corp is a TSX Venture–listed onshore exploration and production company operating across the Taranaki basin, with additional coal seam gas activity in Queensland. The company holds substantial permitted acreage in New Zealand's only producing sedimentary basin, alongside a 50% stake in the Waihapa production station, allowing rapid tie-in of near-term production to market.
TGSP is the company's flagship strategic development — leveraging existing reservoir and operational knowledge in the basin, deep expertise in pressure transient analysis and material balance, and the directly applicable engineering precedent of the adjacent Ahuroa storage facility.
The company is engaging with Iwi, the Taranaki Regional Council, WorkSafe, and central government agencies as part of the project's social and regulatory pathway.
Get in touch with the New Zealand Energy Corp team through the corporate website.
Contact NZEC