The admission by Energy Minister, Megan Woods, that within days of the country’s only oil refinery being about to shut down, she had no idea of how many days refined fuel storage the country had or should have and so told MBIE to hurry up on a report on mandatory onshore holdings, is almost beyond belief.
Both she and the cabinet apparently relied on oil company assurances that they could maintain consistent supplies of refined fuel.
Surely the Minister understands that international corporations have only one focus – increasing profits to pay out larger dividends to shareholders, not the best interests of the country they operate in.
Channel Infrastructure, the company that owned the refinery demonstrated that focus quite clearly when, despite having publicly committed not to, they proceeded to gut all the major processing units, and cut off electrical feeds to them at ground level immediately after shutting the refinery down to ensure the plant would never operate again.
The report the Minister wanted should have been done prior to her presentation of a report to cabinet in September last year, which outlined options and should have been included with that report.
An assessment of the number of days of refined fuel the country could currently store was essential information for the cabinet to know to help it determine whether to intervene and stop the closure.
Lack of supply has the potential to cripple the entire economy so instead of keeping the report secret which the Minister and MBIE are doing, the ministerial briefings should be immediately released so that our key business sectors know what they are dealing with.
Our two biggest earners of overseas exchange, tourism and farm products would be at risk if international airlines could not refuel here, our transport fleet would be unable to get goods to retailers and food into our supermarkets, farm products to processors and export ports, our fishing fleets would be confined to port, and fire, ambulance, and helicopter rescue services could not operate.
MBIE admitted in evidence to the select committee dealing with Social Credit’s 18,300 signature petition that the country had only eighteen days average stocks of refined fuel storage capacity and they suggested we should be aiming to get closer to Australia, which had twenty eight days.
What they failed to mention was that Australia also had two refineries still in operation while New Zealand’s only refinery had been shut down and was in the process of being gutted.
We no longer have the capacity to fall back on our own Taranaki oil should supplies of refined product from Asia be interrupted as would be the case if China invaded Taiwan or cut off shipping routes.
That cabinet should have intervened to stop the refinery being shut down at least until more storage capacity had been put in place, and preferably not shut down at all.
To rely on oil company assurances was the worst option the Minister and Cabinet could have adopted.
Chris Leitch – Leader of Social Credit
Another error in management.
error? or erred with willful intend?
We all know that our current situation with fuel reliability has come about because of two things. The first is the blinkered ideology that drives this government to not holding anymore fossil fuel on standby than is absolutely necessary. The second is their complete inability to transition us from fossil fuel to whatever, with any sort of planning. Upping fuel tax without adequate supply’s of affordable electric vehicles along with the infrastructure needed is just another example. Stopping gas supply development in Taranaki and decommissioning Marsden Point we’re both for show, without thinking about ramifications of the vulnerability of the supply chain. Their ineptness is almost treasonous.
Utter madness curtailing the Taranaki oil and gas, plus the stupidity of shutting down Marsden Point. We could have been nearly self sufficient yet here we are depending upon cargoes from 10,000 kms and at what price? We now see the stupidity of European gas supplies and do the same. Morons.
nationalise under the norwegian model
Yes moronic decisions made by naive people completely out of their depth.
Bob you are an idiot.
Am I?
Yes
the richest naïve morons on the planet whilst NZ rapidly becomes a free market basket case..bob the last
Don’t know what you mean but I will defer to your superior knowledge and say ok.
Fossil fuels, fuelled the industrial revolution from 200 years ago. It’s over. Finished. Get over it.
It’s just like National lite, no new policy. No idea, no direction towards the future. Just cataloguing yesterdays numbers in a really pretty way so you can say see, me is smart.
Because of the warm air of the Pacific, and the cool air of the southern ocean hitting the southern Alps all year round, New Zealand will always be blessed with rain water.
We should double hydro power generators and capacity. University should be all over hydrogen fuel cells, funded via wealth tax.
Enough of the trauma lead emotional dumps. What we do now will carry us into the twenty second century.
Interesting when the National Government pushed for hydro power they were opposed by the greens of the day.
Put it this way we’re not going to use gas reserves an intermediary to jump to nuclear. Not “fission” but “fussion is ultimately where humanity is headed. The wast generated is less than 1%, dust! Emissions? Heat. Deal with it. Then we could get away with 1, maybe 2 mega hydros.
Just get with the program
Citation, quotes, dates or time of your accusation Bob? Or is this just another pigment of your imagination (lie)?
You may be too young to recall the protesters Bert of which there were an abundance.
Figment or pigment?
Nice ideas Sam, but they will never happen unless we utilise what is left of the fossil fuels to do the conversion. Catch 22, damned either way.
We went from horse to cars. We can do it again without the cars.
It’s more about the business environment rather than tactics or gear.
Look at Singapore. Been wealthier than its ex-coloniser for decades, Britian.
So it is in the common laws that bind us from the bottom up.
And unlike cars horses are edible.
Develop the appropriate technology instead of giving up.
Be positive and stop the doomsday talk.
Technology moves at an exponential rate giving me the positive attitude we will solve the climate issues.
It will like always be driven by business not by politicians.
Cannot believe anyone in the Green movement will do anymore than throw stones which they’re good at.
They are also well remunerated for stone throwing.
Have the government actually curtailed Taranaki oil and gas production? AFAIK they’ve ceased granting exploration permits only. Some current permits are valid into the 2050’s
Folks just look at that picture. It just oozes confidence in Megan Woods.
Among many, many other feelings…Sour Kraut…mostly negative
My correspondence with National MPs on this subject show they also accepted oil company assurances. Our oil supplies are now the same as our banking system – foreign controlled and totally profit driven.
We wanted the Government to nationalise the refinery, we want the Government to nationalise the building industry to build and provide a million houses and free up the motels. To get the building roll going we need to get rid of all sorts of rules.
All that would be possible under some regimes. Like North Korea. Here? Never.
A reminder how stupid we are and how our world works:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/the-worst-economic-decision-new-zealand-government-ever-made/DCQ23JZPFCPNBH7MNFZE2TIWB4/
One can only hope National get back in power 2023 and can reverse the oil drilling embargo to ensure a future supply of gas and the money making oil that will be needed soon to balance the books. The one and only time I agreed with Shane Jones was his look of horror when Jacinda sprung it on the nation that the drilling had stopped.
Yes Trevor but the left leaning on this site won’t understand what you mean.
We gave that oil refinery away under Rogernomics and actually paid the consortium of fuel companies $80m as well. Labour have allowed ideology to override the good of the nation in not taking it back. They did suggest last year to the companies involved that they should increase storage capacity and the companies just said fuck off. The Adern government couldn’t run a bath.
Couldn’t sell beer in a pub.
Or pull ponytails.
Bert you really are a funny chap where would I be without you.
High priority of an enemy is to take out strategic fuel supplies.
The enemy within.
woods shift her arse to do anything other than get in a lift to go for her subsidised lunch? dream on.
I read a little about this. To me, it seemed foreign owned pirate fuel companies tried to exert their dominance over Megan Woods / AO/NZ. They tried to hold us to ransom effectively so she told them to go fuck themselves. They went off to fuck themselves but only after Channel Infrastructure sabotaged Marsden Point.
Isn’t that what Shell Oil did to Todd Group re LPG? In that instance Todd acquiesced to Shell and we all got fucked by the greedy Shell scum. Back in the day and prior to that particularly nasty bit of work the government subsidised people into converting their petrol cars to LPG which I took advantage of. I had an NZ assembled ’62 Dodge Dart that ran fabulously on LPG. Was a little softer on acceleration but the fuel milage returned a petrol to dollar equivalent of 48 mpg. Not bad for a 5 litre v8. In these days of *pirateisation where anything goes if you’ve got enough money they’ll have us all riding donkeys. We’d have to have a donkey drivers license and a hoof wof. I have another one. A Tweedle Snake. Do you know what a Tweedle Snake is ? You heard of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee? You will also know about the morons who drive nose to tail up each other’s arse holes. They’re too scared to overtake and too stupid to pull over for a spliff and a beer while the Tweedles snake off into the distance as they peer at each others boot lids while developing cancer from all the buttoned down rage. I call that long line of traffic a Tweedle Snake. I invented it and yes, you can use it.
* Pirateisation. A play on the word ‘privatisation’. I just invented it. Yes, you can use it too.
Labour need to tell us how it is. Labour? We can take it. Lay it out there for all to see. Show no fear.
We know that roger did you in. We know that old Labour was diseased. You can’t be fucked by roger, derek and mike and not catch something. We understand that. But what I cant understand is why you keep mutilating yourselves by pretending we don’t know what went on, and no doubt still does. So cough it up. You’ll feel so much better for it and don’t worry, we can take it. Or we may get luxon and seymour… think about that? Just think about that…
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