The Tariki Gas Storage Project will convert a depleted onshore gas field into 25–40 Bscf 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 25 and 40 Bscf — and the immediately adjacent Ahuroa field, built on the same overthrust Tariki Sandstone, 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, 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 Gas is injected when prices and demand are low, and withdrawn through dedicated wells when the grid needs flexibility — during dry hydrology, winter peaks, or unplanned generator outages.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.
The adjacent Ahuroa facility was sold by Contact Energy in 2017 for NZD $200 million as a working asset with ~18 Bscf capacity. TGSP targets up to 2× that working volume in the same formation.
| Permit | PMP 38138 |
| Permit status | Extended 5 years |
| Operator | NZ Energy Corp |
| Location | Taranaki Basin |
| Reservoir formation | Tariki Sandstone |
| Reservoir depth | ~3,000 m |
| Historical production | ~50 Bscf |
| Target working capacity | 25–40 Bscf |
| Equivalent in PJ | ~26–42 PJ |
| Analog | Ahuroa (adjacent) |
| Listing | TSXV: NZ |
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