The New Zealand Herald newspaper reports Todd Energy managing director Richard Tweedie as saying his company was in the early stages of exploring the potential of imported compressed natural gas (CNG), but no decisions had been made yet.

Tweedie said CNG would overcome objections to LNG imports, principally safety concerns. CNG could also be piped directly into the North Island’s natural gas reticulation system, thus saving the significant costs associated with a NZ$600 million LNG regasification plant.

CNG technology could help New Zealand use gas fields that were too small to justify a permanent connection to the North Island gas grid. It might be possible to use small ships to transport CNG into local ports and thence into a pipeline system, according to Tweedie.

His comments echo those of Genesis Energy chief executive Murray Jackson and Contact corporate development manager Frank Geoghegan late last year.

Jackson told an energy traders conference in Sydney last October that importing CNG from PNG, via Gladstone, Queensland, was a possible fall-back position for New Zealand if indigenous gas supplies were inadequate or LNG importation proved unworkable. The gas would be sourced via the planned PNG-to-Queensland pipeline.

A month earlier Geoghegan told the 2005 New Zealand Oil & Gas Expo in New Plymouth that both Genesis and Contact had been approached regarding importing PNG gas via Australia. However, he cautioned against any undue optimism, saying it would be brave to try to commercialise CNG imports.

Geoghegan said the present Contact-Genesis LNG feasibility study involved importing about one million tonnes per annum (about 60 petajoules) of LNG from Western Australia, the Northen Territory or Indonesia. This would involve about 11-14 tanker shipments a year.

While trans-Tasman shipping times for CNG would certainly be quicker than bringing LNG from the Indian Ocean or Timor Sea, CNG shipments would be far smaller than LNG.