ALTHOUGH THE FIRST (small) commercial hydrocarbon discovery in New Zealand was made in 1866, it was not until 1959 that modern exploration resulted in the onshore discovery of the gas-condensate Kapuni field in the Taranaki Basin, followed in 1969 by the discovery of the giant offshore Maui gas-condensate field. The last two decades have seen the development of these two fields, augmented by several smaller gas-and oilfields. An extensive gas pipeline system has been put into place in the North Island. The South Island gas needs are served by tankers and bottles. Of the many New Zealand sedimentary basins, the Taranaki Basin is the only productive one so far. As gas reserves are expected to run ut by about 2006, New Zealand is faced with the challenge to find sufficient new deposits to replace and dwindling reserves. As newly-discovered fields can take six to ten years to bring on-stream, time is of the essence. Exploration is continuing at present, both on- and offshore, but statistically, based on past successes, may be of insufficient magnitude to meet the deadline. To prevent the disruption of supplies, and the closure of gas-based industries, New Zealand needs a lot of luck in the next few years.