Surveys before gas shipments

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32439, 28 October 1970, Page 2

Surveys before gas shipments

(New Zealand Press Association) OAMARU, October 27. Very detailed and intensive surveys would have to be done before plans to ship or pipe natural gas to the South Island were contemplated, a British gas consultant, Mr J. H. S. Marris, said in Oamaru today.

Mr Marris, a British Gas Council transmission and distribution engineer, is in Oamaru during a survey of the 15 New Zealand gas undertakings not connected to the Kapuni natural gas pipeline.

The survey is being undertaken by the New Zealand Gas Council. He said gas from the Kapuni or Maui wells could be liquified and transported to the South Island. It could be turned back into gas at suitable ports. “But I just can’t say at the moment whether or not this is possible,” he said. “Very detailed and intensive surveys would have to be carried out.” As yet it was not known whether there was a large

enough market for natural gas in the South Island. “However, it is obvious that for natural gas to be distributed to Oamaru and other South Island centres it would have to be part of a total natural gas system involving large industries and centres of population,” he said. Another possibility was using liquified petroleum gas in large quantities. The manufacture of gas from coal was becoming increasingly expensive and the market for coal-gas byproducts was diminishing. “International trends are for gas manufacture to come from natural gas or petroleum gas, and it appears that future production methods are unlikely to continue with coal gas,” he said. 1)