The New Zealand Herald's Mood of the Boardroom survey, published today, reveals many chief executives of companies - from major to medium enterprises - want more government action to avert a future crisis.

The Herald, this country's largest daily paper, in association with Business New Zealand, canvassed the opinions of 300 business bosses and the country's rapidly diminishing Maui gas field and the potential for more electricity crises came out as top concerns.

Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier said the major issue facing his company was not regulation, but energy. "We have 29 plants in New Zealand that run on natural gas. If we had to convert those to coal over the next ten years we would spend a huge amount of capital for no real benefit for our farmers whatsoever."

Fletcher Building chief executive Ralph Waters said the "one-in-50" -year scenario that governments had used to explain away recent electricity crises was "a myth". And Carter Holt Harvey chairman John Maasland warned that energy shortages might affect investment.

EnergyReview.Net reported the looming gas supply gap was the hottest topic at the 2004 NZ Petroleum Conference in Auckland two weeks ago; while Crown Resources manager Adam Feeley's impassioned plea and promised urgent reviews convinced many delegates that the government is going to take the action necessary to help the industry and country through the post-Maui challenge.