Last month this country's largest gas users Contact Energy and Genesis Power announced they were investigating the feasibility of developing a multi-million-dollar LNG receiving facility in New Zealand, with project leader Frank Geoghegan saying he expected huge interest in the project.

Genesis and Contact said New Zealand faced a gas supply shortfall from 2008-2010, though EnergyReview.Net has said that could occur as early as 2005-06 if formerly largest user Methanex manages to keep its Taranaki methanol plants running at even part capacity.

Today Contact Energy spokesman Pattrick Smellie told ERN that more than a dozen international parties had registered their interest in the supply of LNG and/or the construction of the necessary LNG infrastructure.

"The sponsors (Contact and Genesis) are currently considering the qualifications of the parties and plan to formulate the detail of the next stage of the work over the next month or so.

"We anticipate parties for the next state of the study will be chosen in the next month or so and detailed studies commenced," Smellie said.

Most parties had requested confidentiality and this limited what the sponsors could say publicly. As well, there was the possibility other firms or joint ventures could also express their desire to participate in the project, he added.

Earlier Geoghegan said the sponsors wanted clear indications from potential bidders of their capability to deliver LNG to New Zealand, the likely landed price and what sites they considered feasible for an LNG regasification plant.

It is known Shell NZ invited industry participants to a LNG expose in Wellington late last month and that it has started its own LNG investigations, including studying several possible receiving sites around the North Island.

Some commentators, however, say this is all part of the Royal Dutch Shell plan, in light of their exploration withdrawal from New Zealand, to "butter up" the New Zealand industry and get it used to talking about gas prices of $US3-4 per Gigajoule.