Marsden Point

We've been talking for a long time about what's happened now.

It goes right back to the Marsden Point issue and whether you could keep a minuscule amount of domestic fuel production underway there that might suffice.

In a disaster.

It's things you don't like to think about, but you need to.

I'm so glad you want to know why.

We don't have benzene because it's a byproduct from petrol, and we shut down Marsden Point, and we can't get it.

Because of the concrete.

No, because of what? Because of the concrete in the thing.

It's a metaphor for our pain.

We shut down a refiner at Marsden Point.

We won't need that.

Great Barrier Island, we feel your pain.

Look, we're also pretty excited.

I mean, we understand that the dry dock project out at Marsden Point is going through the process with MV through the fast track consenting process.

And that's probably sort of looking like it's going to be happening in the not too distant future as well.

So there's a whole heap of activity going on.

It's a big topic and a lot of businesses are struggling.

Now, when we shut Marsden Point, we also shut our biggest CO2 producer, which is critical in food production and critical for something close to my heart because you need CO2 to make your beer fizz.

Alan McDonald.

He is the policy advocate from EMA, the Employers and Manufacturers Association in Auckland.

if we end up with deindustrialisation, meaning our industries are less and less, lower and lower, how is that going to impact the business community and New Zealand as a whole?

Well, one of the things that's become evident with the international shocks that we've had over an extended period of time, and they're doing this in Australia, is, and this is the question we've asked in our policy document, is there a place for a conversation in New Zealand that says there are certain businesses we or... sectors that we want to keep for our national resilience when something goes wrong.

So, for example, when we closed the Marsden Point Refinery, we've just spent $120 million reinstating or restoring 93 million litres worth of fuel storage so that when we had the fuel problem that we had, in the future we've got a bunker if you like some resilience in the system that says we've got all this additional storage right now when we shut Marsden Point we also shut our biggest co2 producer which is critical in food production

right

They've talked to us here at RNZ and they've stressed for now this is a fuel price issue, not one really of supply.

And looking at the MB website, their most recent data, 48 days worth of diesel cover, remembering the government added about nine days of extra storage at Marsden Point.

Petrol's at about 51 days, so that sounds pretty good.

But global diesel supplies, this is where things are getting tough.

So this was in April 2020.

So in April 2024, they commissioned the, the um the report uh and i've used uh i believe it was claude to kind of um blasphemy yeah what what are you a chpg guy geez man um to kind of compress this down so i could talk about it without having to read the i think it was 97 pages um so i cheated all right i admit it So first talking point is Marsden Point.

So Marsden Point is or was an oil refinery.

It was our country's only oil refinery.

The refinery is based, actually let's use Google Maps again and go there.

It's like the same as like Tauranga is from Auckland, if not more.

So it's quite a fair whack away, but it is a solid parbour and it's where... we would today it's where we store a heap of our oil um or heap of our petrol and diesel so a lot of it is stored there not all of it but a lot of it um in 2022 there was a company it was called the uh new zealand refinery company um jim could you find out the exact name of the company uh I'm not quite sure of the name off the top of my head.

Who owned Marsden Point, yeah.

They're also expected to be amongst some interested parties.

Australian media has also reported that Channel Infrastructure, that's Marsden Point to you and I, may be interested in Exxon's mobiles fuel terminals, although not the service stations.

So Exxon is actually selling its New Zealand assets as it focuses more on markets closer to the United States.

Now, any sales process should occur is expected to stretch well into next year.

And again, I'd come back to Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand had one refinery called Marsden Point that did 135,000 barrels a day and they shut that down.

So they are entirely dependent on imports.

And when this crisis kicked off, people saying, oh, yes, but we should build a strategic reserve.