NZ First leader Winston Peters used the party's 2026 campaign launch in Auckland to announce a $1 billion investment in surveying New Zealand's offshore basins for oil and gas, and to rule out governing with Labour after the election.

Peters told nearly 400 delegates and several hundred supporters that NZ First would commit an initial $1 billion to a "National Subsurface Development Survey" covering energy, geothermal and CO2 storage sites. He said the country has 10 prospective basins with "world-class potential" for oil and gas, and put the odds of a major commercial discovery at "well above 90 percent" (RNZ).

The Great South Basin, Peters said, has had only eight wells drilled in its entire history and its deeper layers remain untested. Under the NZ First plan, surveying of the highest-ranked basins would be completed within 24 months, with specific wells identified and what Peters described as "first physical proof that reserves exist." He said the surveying itself would take two years, and that within six years New Zealand could have its own oil and gas supply.

Peters called the policy a "game changer" and said he expected results within 12 months that could be converted into "knowledge that global capital can bid against" — meaning data attractive enough for international energy companies to invest in further exploration.

The fiscal design outlined at the launch includes a royalty regime (a percentage paid to the government on what is extracted) set above 50 percent on all extractions once production matures, with "fair terms" applied while explorers carry the risk of proving the fields. Peters said the oil and gas finds would be used to end gas shortfalls and to establish a sovereign wealth fund modelled on Norway's.

At the same event, NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones confirmed he is contesting the Northland electorate seat.

The broader context here is that Peters's explicit ruling out of Labour as a coalition partner narrows the field of post-election options NZ First is prepared to consider. Under MMP, parties often negotiate after the vote to form a government, and Peters has a track record of keeping his options open until the last possible moment. Closing one off this early is a deliberate signal — to both voters and potential coalition partners — sent at the campaign launch rather than in the negotiating room after the vote.

The resource policy itself touches several live debates in New Zealand's energy and fiscal landscape. The current government's legislative programme around oil and gas exploration, the Fast-track Approvals Act (which streamlines infrastructure and resource consents), and emissions reduction obligations under the Climate Change Response Act all intersect with any proposal to commit public capital to subsurface surveying at this scale. A state-funded seismic survey programme would be a significant shift from the existing model, where exploration companies bear their own survey costs and the Crown's role is regulatory rather than operational. The royalty structure Peters described, with its escalating take as fields mature, also departs from the current royalty framework for petroleum in New Zealand.

The Norwegian sovereign fund reference is a familiar touchstone in New Zealand political discourse, invoked periodically across the spectrum. Norway's Government Pension Fund Global holds assets built from petroleum revenues over decades. Peters did not specify at the launch how a New Zealand equivalent would be capitalised, governed, or integrated with existing Crown financial institutions such as the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

The campaign launch was covered by RNZ, with photo credit to RNZ/Marika Khabazi indicating an RNZ photographer was present at the Auckland event.

What remains unspecified in the detail released so far is how the $1 billion survey commitment would be phased across the parliamentary term, whether it would sit within the Crown's existing Baseline (the government's ongoing spending entitlement) or require new operating spending, and how it would interact with the Budget process and any coalition agreements. Those are the questions that will surface if NZ First enters government and the policy moves from a campaign pledge to a Cabinet paper.