New Zealand Energy Quarterly released
The Ministry today released the New Zealand Energy Quarterly for the March 2008 quarter.
This quarter:
* Petrol and diesel prices continued to rise, although motorists were still somewhat shielded from increases due to the high value of the New Zealand dollar compared with the US dollar.
* New Zealand’s oil production continued at near record levels as a result of the Tui oil field coming online in mid 2007.
* Oil exports were more than four times higher compared to the March quarter 2007.
* Thermal electricity generation was significantly higher than during the March quarter 2007 due to low hydrological inflows.
* Whirinaki, New Zealand’s diesel-fired reserve generator, ran at record levels.
* Emissions from electricity generation were up almost a third compared with the March quarter 2007.
The New Zealand Energy Quarterly is part of a suite of energy publications produced by the Ministry. It is free to download or subscribe to by going to www.med.govt.nz/energy/nzeq/. The Ministry also provides up-to-date information via its Energy Data webpages at www.med.govt.nz/energy/data/.