Govt to buy half share in Maui

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33064, 3 November 1972, Page 1

Govt to buy half share in Maui

(New Zealand Press Association)

NEW PLYMOUTH, November 2. The Maui gas field will be developed as a joint venture by the Government and the Shell-BP-Todd consortium.

This was disclosed tonight by the Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) when he answered questions at a public meeting in New Plymouth.

Mr Marshall said the decision had been taken to break a deadlock in negotiations on the price New Zealand would pay for the gas. The Government and the consortium would share the

development costs and profits from the field.

The deadlock had been reached about the middle of this year. The Government had suggested the joint venture when it was recognised that some way must be found to bridge the gap between the price at which the consortium was prepared to sell the gas and the price the Government wanted to pay. “The consortium said it couldn’t offer any more, and the Government said the price was not good enough,” Mr Marshall said.

Under the joint venture the Government would purchase a 50 per cent share in the field, and the consortium would contribute 50 per cent of the development costs.

Beneficial terms Mr Marshall said he hoped negotiations would be concluded in a matter of months, but settlement would not be reached until the terms were the ones to benefit New Zealand the most. There were still detailed negotiations to be carried out on such points as taxation, and the value of work already done by the consortium. Replying to criticism about the length of negotiations, Mr Marshall said the decision could have been reached sooner “had we not been concerned with the interests of New Zealand.” The Government was concerned to see that the people of New Zealand got a fair share of the proceeds of the development of the field. Mr Marshall said he could not put any figure on the Government’s contribution to the joint venture, but it ran into many millions of dollars. The initial use of the gas would be for generating

electric power, but there •were ample quantities which . could be developed for other •purposes. This question had not yet been explored.