Maui gas to keep conference busy

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 17

Maui gas to keep conference busy

PA Wellington.

Speeding up the capacity of the gas industry to enable it to handle the quantities of Maui natural gas expected ashore next year is certain to be a lively topic at the Gas Industry conference in Cb r; stchurch. The three-day conference will include observers from all parts of the industry, and the Gas Association and the Gas Institute will hold their own annual meetings at different times during the conference. The conference, to be officially ’ opened by the Minister of Energy Resources (Mr Gair) on February 20, has as its theme “Think ahead, think gas.” The general manager of the Wellington Gas Company, Ltd, (Mr L. G. Brown) said he was particularly eager to see the Maui gas question “debated in depth.”

Mr Brown said that the Government had given tremendous incentives, including subsidies on equipment, to encourage the use of gas among domestic consumers. But so far consumers had not fully realised the general advantages of switching to gas. The two main benefits were a more economic cost, and an eas-

ing on oil imports for the generation of electricity. “This company and other utilities are charged with anticipating the availability of Maui gas, but you can hardly go ahead with supply arrangements if you do not know when it will be available, or at how much,” he said. “When you are talking to engineers and boards of directors, you have to know these things.”

It was essential that fitting equipment was obtained as soon as possible to prepare for the Maui flow. Hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent on the project. Mains and services would have to be in the ground before people could convert. “We used to be able to get gas fitters to come to New Zealand, but now with the North Sea oil discovery all .the best people are staying in Europe.”

From now on, gas fitters would have to be trained in this country before searching abroad for men. This was especially necessary in 'iew of the present unemployment situation here.

Mr Brown said he was opposed to the present regulations which prevented people from becoming registered gas fitters until they were reg-

istered plumbers. That was a “very negative attitude.” “It is a completely new bail-game today, and we

must be prepared to move with the times,” he said. Another question which is likely to capture attention at the conference is the supply of liquefied petroleum gas to the South Island. Recently, concern has been expressed over the availability of Maui gas to the South Island. It is not yet clear whether L.P.G. can be economically shipped to South Island centres.

In a comprehensive report to go before the conference o.i gas use in Britain, an engineer with the Hutt Valley Electric Power and Gas Board (Mr A. E. Hammond) said the industry in the United Kingdom had made “tremendous strides” in the last 10 years to become “a major influence” on the -J9AB aqj, -suaos XStaua age householder was “gasminded,” and the majority attitude was that people felt deprived if gas was not available to them.

In the United Kingdom gas accounted for only 18 per cent of domestic fuel use in 1965-66, but in the 1975-76 year that figure had grown to 40 per cent, the report sair’