Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: Brian Cox, Bioenergy Association, Executive Officer
At the hand over of the petition to keep the Marsden oil refinery open and operational to Shane Reti, who will then present it to Parliament, Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association said that “The announcement that the Marsden refinery is to be closed is the result of poor planning by Government. The Government is talking of having to spend $6.4 billion to purchase international carbon credits when it is not prepared to spend a fraction of that amount on emission reduction solutions in our own country which will also create new employment, and be part of the emerging bioeconomy.”
“On the one hand Government in its recent Emissions Reduction Plan discusion document says that its own draft plan is not adequate to reduce emissions enough, yet it is not prepared to investigate and work with opportunities which a repurposed refinery could provide and would fill that gap.”
“The Bioenergy Association is concerned that the refinery at Marsden Point is being decommissioned without serious consideration of how the remaining equipment not used for import of petroleum fuels, can be repurposed for production of biofuels.
“Government is about to introduce a mandate for use of biofuels in transport yet is not prepared to look at how the refinery can be used to reduce the cost of domestic biofuel production. The plant could be a biorefinery to produce biofuels for heavy transport, marine (InterIslander), rail and sustainable aviation fuel. Otherwise, domestic biofuels production will face a significant barrier if a new biorefinery will have to be built from scratch. However with the refinery closed the most likely option will be that we simply import biofuels which are already high priced because of world demand. ”
“The maximum value of the refinery for future biofuels production would be achieved if the Government assisted Refining NZ to keep the facility operational, at least for a period in which to develop a future plan for repurposing the assets.”
