Trading Black Gold

New Zealand is famous worldwide for its dairy exports, Sylvia Pfeifer writes for the Financial Times. “Its dairy industry generated $13.9bn in revenues in the year to March 2012. But now the government is pinning its hopes on the potential of oil. Crude oil already brings in substantial revenues. It was the country’s fourth largest export earner in 2011 and the oil and gas sector supports more than 7000 jobs directly and indirectly. If New Zealand can duplicate what has happened in Taranaki – home of its three major gasfields – then total GDP could grow by an average of $2.1bn or 1.7 per cent for each year of a 30-year development of a second basin, with the creation of 5500 jobs.”