‘Energy self-sufficiency of 50 p.c. possible in six years’

Press, 10 July 1979, Page 26

‘Energy self-sufficiency of 50 p.c. possible in six years’

Energy reporter

New Zealand could be 50 per cent self-sufficient in its energy needs in about six years, says a Canterbury University scientist.

That time will be needed for New Zealand to develop its indigenous energy resources to replace costly imported oil, according to Dr N. J. Peet, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering. For the next three or four years New Zealand had to conserve and curtail its use of imported oil because it would be tied to the higher prices that would be demanded by oilproducing nations, he said.

New Zealand could be half-way to self-suffi-ciency by developing compressed natural gas, methanol, liquefied petroleum gas, and ethanol from the Maui gasfield.

“As for going any further than half-way, the picture is not too clear at the moment,” said Dr Peet.

He was concerned that the Government might panic and adopt one of

the more expensive proposals for Maui gas, conversion into synthetic petrol, just to be able to boast that New Zealand was in the fore-front of technology.

“If it does that we may find ourselves in hock for another 20 years,” Dr Peet said.

The proposals for C.N.G., L.P.G., methanol, and ethanol would still keep the options open for bigger projects. "I don’t like putting all our energy eggs into one big multi-national basket,” he said.

The Liquid Fuels Trust Board is preparing a report for the Government on the possible uses of Maui gas. The report is due in August and a decision on what projects the Government will adopt is expected in September or October.

Among the proposals are two for the manufacture of synthetic petrol. Mobil Oil (N.Z.), Ltd, has suggested that the Government and the oil company “go halves” on a process that would first produce

methanol and then synthetic gasoline. Mobil believes the joint venture could produce half of New Zealand’s petrol requirements by 1984 at the same cost as petrol nowadays. The Fischer-Tropsch process, named after the two German scientists who developed it early this century, produces petrol from coal. It is used at present in West Germany and South Africa and has been suggested as a future user of the huge lignite deposits in Southland. Dr Peet said that methanol was not produced in the FischerTropsch process but it produced a mixture of diesel and gasoline. The Mobil process did not produce diesel “and we need diesel badly.”

However, it was an expensive process to establish because the coal first had to be transformed in to gas before petrol could be extracted. C.N.G. was a better

choice as a proposed use of natural gas but it

would never be a big contributor to New Zealand’s fuel needs. This role could be filled by methanol either as petrol additive or as a fuel to replace petrol completely.

The trust board is believed to be studying two proposals for methanol plants: one would provide enough methanol for local consumption only while the other, suggested by B.P. (N.Z.), Ltd, proposes exporting methanol as well.

Dr Peet is opposed to any export of indigenous fuels and is critical of the Government for delaying policy decisions on the development of indigenous resources.

“If we want to cry over spilled milk the Government knew in 1973 what would happen with oil,” he said. Since 1973 the Government had been paralysed by continually analysing the problem without doing anything constructive about it. ‘‘That has been the story for the last six years and we are still in the middle of it.’