The coalition government recently announced its plan to reverse a ban on new oil and gas exploration to deal with an energy security challenge brought on by rapidly declining natural gas reserves.
But this assumes, rather optimistically, that repealing the ban will prompt companies to invest in new gas fields.
In practice, those companies will be carefully considering whether there is anyone to sell their gas to, or whether a future government could change the rules again.
Investors don't love political volatility or market risk, and New Zealand currently has both.
The coming gas crunch
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