Southern lignite and New Zealand's economic recovery led by the oil and gas sector were the major talking points during presentations at the New Zealand Petroleum Conference in Auckland yesterday.
Finance Minister Bill English said the country had five to seven years ahead to rebalance its economy.
"New Zealand has to hitch on to the China-Australia train. The better they do, the better we do. The oil and gas sector is an important part in that," he told more than 400 conference delegates by video link.
Dr Don Elder, chief executive of state-owned Solid Energy, said in his separate presentation lignite and "unconventional" petroleum research and development had the potential to support a population of more than 100 million and New Zealanders' per capita GDP value would be more than that of oil-rich Saudis.
"There's 100,000 petajoules of coal [energy] in the ground. It's the easy stuff, sitting there right in front of us," Dr Elder said.
Mr English's presentation was a reiteration of an economic road show going back 18 months, when he outlined to Chambers of Commerce around the country and other business groups the disparity between falling exports and domestic over-spending, fuelled by the housing boom and subsequent household reliance on credit and borrowing.
As Australia had seen an "incredible burst of activity" for minerals which underpinned its prosperity, New Zealand was now "hot for Australian and China trade", which could increase from 23% to more than 40% during the next five years,Mr English said.
"We have made adjustments in the business community and households and have a higher level of realism and resilience ... and with oil and gas for the long term can do well in the next five to six years," Mr English said.
Much of Dr Elder's presentation was also built on previous estimates during the past two years, but yesterday he detailed capital investment spending during the past year of $325 million, on lignite briquette manufacturing, bio-diesel, the manufacturing of export wood pellets and development of an underground coal gasification plant.
Solid Energy accounted for about 120 petajoules of energy at present, but with unconventional petroleum additions during the next decade, that would rise to about 300 petajoules, he said.
That energy was worth $2 billion to $4 billion today, but if the world returned to 2008 peak prices, it could be worth $5 billion to $10 billion.
Lignite, the lowest grade of coal, was historically considered as not in keeping with carbon emissions concerns in the 21st century.
However, Dr Elder said during the past seven years, $200 million was spent on rehabilitation, and $50 million was spent annually on the environment.
• Reporter Simon Hartley is hosted at the conference by Crown Minerals
