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The enthusiasm, pro-resource development and pro-business stance of the National-led government is refreshing, says Venture Taranaki. By Neil Ritchie.
He says the last 12 months have basically been a consolidation period for the Taranaki economic development agency – continuing to support and promote a diverse number of sectors and activities. On the energy front, this has included ongoing support for the Oil and Gas Specialist Technologies group and the associated Engineering Taranaki consortium, assisting them in providing expertise to the engineering and upstream and downstream petroleum sectors. He adds that VT has been working on its own talent strategy. Over 550 employers utilise the jobs part of the Live + Work section of the VT website, with about 100-150 vacancies listed at any one time. “And the Taranaki oil and gas sector has been using that website page to recruit from within the global pool of oil and gas workers”. “VT has also been working with Port Taranaki on a number of projects, looking at scenarios for the future, the ‘what ifs’. “We know that the port supports, and in some ways is a reflection of, the oil and gas sector, so we want to know how various scenarios might affect it. “We have also been working closely with some of the participants in the oil and gas sector, the bigger companies, to get a sense of how we can add value to our own and to their endeavours within the province. “That’s one part of the draft Taranaki Economic Development Strategy that looks out to the year 2035 and gives a blueprint of information of likely challenges and opportunities for the next 25 years. “We still have more work to do in the next few months – some very interesting projects may come out of that process – and because it’s a living document we expect more changes over the coming years.” He says that the oil and gas, and petrochemicals industries are two of the vitally important sectors of the Taranaki economy, with others including the dairy and engineering sectors. So VT is naturally concerned about the health of the energy sector and regularly undertakes SWOT analyses, identifying the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats to the Crown’s minerals estate, particularly with regard to Taranaki. This is to ensure the region is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities that open up, mitigate some of the risks, and generally be more pro-active in the area of business development. It also means eliciting tactical responses from participants, providing expertise and insights to help informed decision making around the region, outside the region and around the country. “We are also working closely with central government, particularly Trade and Enterprise, the Crown Minerals Group within the Ministry of Economic Development, and the wider MED on possible projects of national significance. “In a national context, this means bringing alignments around the country, having a far wider footprint than just Taranaki.” Trundle says this is about understanding the scale of opportunities that may present themselves, understanding the capabilities of pooled resources, doing things as “New Zealand Incorporated” rather than as individual companies. It means tripartite action – central government, local or regional government and the private sector – seeking “new horizons and fresh frontiers”. There also needs to be an awareness of the “maximising the whole of economic life” benefits, not just the government collection of monies through royalties and taxes of companies, but also through the PAYE payments of people involved in projects, the subsequent higher GST takes through increased consumer spending, et cetera. “We are positive about the initial feedback we have received but some significant work still needs to be done to ensure we have a robust proposal to present to key stakeholders.” Trundle adds that there is also an international dynamic about this. “We need to learn from what other nations have done to maximise the benefits (of major developments), what can be done to help get projects across the line,” he says, referring to moving a proposal from being merely an idea to parties making a final investment decision. “So far, this study is looking incredibly promising; it will be exciting to see what eventuates.”
Energy NZ Vol.4 No.2 March-April 2010 |
“And we are reacting pro-actively, with a sense of urgency; we are looking for opportunities to maximise the benefits of future developments in Taranaki and other regions for the good of the whole nation,” says Venture Taranaki chief executive Stuart Trundle.