NZ InfraWatch
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LNG Import Terminal: Port Taranaki
Crown / MBIE (provider TBC) · Taranaki
A government-backed LNG import terminal at Port Taranaki for dry-year gas security. Both shortlisted proposals use a floating storage and regasification unit: a moored vessel on the Main Breakwater feeding gas into the transmission network. A preferred provider is due later in 2026. No build cost is published because it is an FSRU lease funded by an obligation on the gentailers, not Crown capital. MBIE says the prospect alone has cut 2028-29 wholesale prices by about $20/MWh, roughly $800m a year or $140 a household. Critics say it locks in fossil gas.
Data current as at 13 Jun 2026, when the pipeline was last checked against its source.
Key facts
- Region
- Taranaki
- Sector
- Energy
- Status
- Planning
- Estimated value
- Value TBC
- Indicative completion
- 2028
- Funding status
- No Source
- Lead organisation
- Crown / MBIE (provider TBC)
- Election risk
- Extreme
Election risk assessment
Highly contested fossil-gas import facility for dry-year electricity security. The proposed power-bill levy was abandoned; the cost is now to fall on the gentailers under a 'lasting obligation'. Labour and the Greens oppose it on cost and emissions grounds and would likely cancel it.
Government priority alignment
COUNTER: A fossil-gas import facility, at odds with the long-run renewable-electricity transition.
Chronology
- 2024Winter dry-year electricity shortage and gas shortfall expose security risk
- 2025Government review recommends an LNG import option to manage dry years
- 2026Two Port Taranaki floating storage and regasification proposals shortlisted; mooted power-bill levy dropped, obligation shifted to the gentailers; a preferred provider expected later in the year
- 2028Targeted to be operational