Such is the growing importance of the oil industry on New Zealand's economy, that a resource kit for secondary school geography syllabus for Years 11, 12 and 13 has been completed and will be launched tomorrow at the New Zealand Oil and Gas Expo in New Plymouth.

Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals - The Age of Oil - is designed to educate students about the industry, with a hope that it might atract school leavers to train for the wide variety of jobs available in the sector.

The number of people working in the oil and gas sector in the province will quadruple over the next 20 years and to meet this forecast growth the region will need to attract, train and retain 2500 workers in the oil and gas sector alone and 21,700 across all sectors.

And that is just Taranaki. With exploration about to start in other parts of New Zealand, especially Canterbury and Southland, these numbers will grow spectacularly if oil is discovered.

The resource kit has been developed between EXITO (Extractive Industry's Training Organisation) and the New Zealand Geographic Society. Mary Flaws, co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of Geography and a former geography teacher, is the chief writer of the kit.

Kevin Walker, Chief Executive of EXITO, said that the resource kit looks at the location, extraction, exploration and distribution of oil and natural gas (hydrocarbons) in New Zealand; the processes involved in oil and gas exploration, appraisal and distribution and finally careers in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry.

"While this country's oil industry is almost entirely based in Taranaki, we see this as a New Zealand-wide tool. Taranaki need to source more workers from around New Zealand and we are also confident that oil will be discovered in commercial quantities in othe areas of the country in the not-to-distant future," he said.

The kit has been three years in the making and has involved the collaboration of many sectors of the oil, gas and petrochemical industry as well as the educational sector.

This is the fourth resource kit that EXITO has been involved in, having earlier produced resources for the quarrying, gold mining and resource recovery/waste management sectors.

Launch details: Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals - The Age of Oil will be launched at the New Zealand Oil and Gas Expo on Wednesday, September 8, at 4.15pm, at the TSB Stadium, on Stand 32. Guests will include key industry representatives, school teachers and school pupils.