April 05, 2024
Fuel reserve claim fails sniff test
Former conservation minister Sandra Lee-Vercoe is calling out Resource Minister Shane Jones for a claim that reopening the country to oil and gas companies will ensure security in fuel supplies.
New Zealand First is linking its exploration push to reopening the Marsden Point refinery, which was closed down by its shareholders two years ago in favour of importing refined fuel.
Marsden Point processed imported heavy crude, while the oil fields around Taranaki produce a lighter crude which is immediately exported.
Ms Lee-Vercoe says Mr Jones has claimed New Zealand’s fuel reserves have got down to as low as seven days snice the refinery closed.
“Shane’s trying to suggest that any oil that’s extracted by these big oil companies will be tucked away safely in barrels for the use of New Zealanders. That is absolutely not true. That is not what’s going to happen. So I don’t know why he would try to use that for justification,” she says.
She expects iwi Māori will stand at the barricades to prevent new exploration.