Oil Refinery Team Inspects Lyttelton Harbour For Site

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 13

Oil Refinery Team Inspects Lyttelton Harbour For Site

Five experts touring New Zealand to find a suitable site for a £2om oil refinery arrived in Christchurch from Timaru soon after midday yesterday, and left immediately with Lyttelton Harbour Board officials to look at Lyttelton Harbour. Today they will have more talks with the board. The experts make up an investigating team of the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Group. Led by a Dutch oil engineer, Mr P. Tuininga, the group had already seen possible sites at Nelson, Golden Bay, Bluff, and Dunedin. Others in the group are Mr C. J. Kamp, another Dutch engineer, Mr B. D. Cauthery, a refining technologist of the British petroleum Company, Ltd., from the United Kingdom, Captain G. A. Blackwood, marine superintendent of Shell, and Mr D. M. Roberta Showing the team around Lyttelton Harbour yesterday was the chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board (Mr W. P. Glue), the board secretary (Mr A. L. Burk), the board engineer (Mr J. A. Cashin), the Lyttelton harbourmaster (Captain A. R. Champion) and Mr W. B. Laing, a board member. Stop at Teddington Mr Glue said last evening the team had been taken through Sumner, around the Summit road and down to Teddington. There they had looked at a possible site. The team also looked at likely sites nearer Lyttelton. “We are going to have discussions with them tomorrow morning,” Mr Glue said. The team is looking for a site near water deep enough to carry the huge 65,000-ton tankers that will bring crude oil to this country. There must be a good power supply, a suitable labour force, plenty of fresh water —the refinery would use 20 million gallons a day—and it must be near a centre of distribution. ’ Last evening members of the

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Good Look Around” Emphasising that Lyttelton Harbour was the fifth area to be surveyed by the team, Mr Tuininga said they had had “a good look “Of course I cannot yet give any impression on what we saw because we still have so many P l ®* 3 to «ee,” he said. Mr Tuminga said that choice of ? n c ? sts and technical feasibility to adapt one of New Zealand s ports to refinery requirements on an economical An important factor was a sufficient depth of water for the huge oil tankers that would come to New Zealand. It was the longest haul of oil in the world to New Zealand and big tankers would be necessary to make the trip economic. “New Zealand is consuming oil at the greatest distance from the source of supply,” he said. During May 33 county applicants Mr Tuininga -said that only a few ports in the World could keep up with the development of the bigger cargo vessels. "Formerly a port of 30ft depth was considered a deep port, but that is not so now.” Ships were becoming bigger—particularly bulk cargo ships—because it was better from “economic interest.” A vessel of 18,000 tons needed a crew of 80, but the same crew could handle a vessel three times the size. “Some Fames” Mr Tuininga said that whereever the oil refinery was established there would be some fumes, but no more than 'there would be normally in an industrial area. Fumes were no more than woUl<Kcome from any other industry, "but there is the possibility of human error.” He said the problem of oil escaping into the water would also have to be faced. “Naturally we would not think of building a refinery on a beach, but then you would not think of building a meat Works on a beach either,” he said. Mr Tuininga said if New Zealand was to advance industrially there would have to be an acceptance of some things. On interest by other oil companies in the possibility of a New Zealand refinery, Mr Tuininga said, “Of course I am riot fully informed on this.” He said he understood that Mr Cauthery, of the B.P. company, was representing the other oil companies. The team's investigation is likely to continue until well into August, but it may be some time before any announcement is made about the site chosen. ■

Mr Tuininga said any announcement would come from Shell headquarters in Wellington.