Oil refinery in Sydney to be jointly owned

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 18

Oil refinery in Sydney to be jointly owned

i (N.Z. Press Assn— Copyright) j SYDNEY. ; Ampol Petroleum, Ltd, has indicated its willingness t,o join with other oil companies in building and operating another oil refinery in Syd|ney. But the company said building the refinery had [been set back for 15 months [while a Royal Commission • was held to investigate possible sites for it. Ampol’s managing director [(Mr A. E. Harris) said the company was “delighted” with the findings of the Royal Commission into Pet- ' roleum, released in Canberra ' late last month. The commission recom- , mended that a new refinery was needed in Sydney and that it should be jointly ; owned by all four or any . three .of the companies which had planned to build a ; refinery.

Long delay

The companies are Ampol, Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Ltd, H. C. Sleigh, Ltd, and Total Australia, Ltd. “We are keen to get cracking,” Mr Harris said. “The finding substantiates what we proposed to do before the inquiry began.

“But the difference now is that urgently needed additional refining capacities for New South Wales have been delayed by 15 months—the period of the inquiry.”

Mr Harris said that Ampol had an option on land on the Kurnell Peninsula for a proposed refinery site. The commission recommended tw.o possible sites for the new refinery.

One was at Kurnell Peninsula, in Sydney .and the other at Lucas Heights, both subject to engineering and environmental studies.