Petrol stocks may run dry —Mr Birch

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 1

Petrol stocks may run dry —Mr Birch

PA Wellington Petrol stocks at some ports will be dry in three weeks if the strike by Marsden Point refinery maintenance contractors continues, according to the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, last evening. Boilermakers and riggers at the refinery have resolved to stop work until the Wage Freeze Authority gives its ruling on the rates in the shutdown agreement, he said. The refinery was due to start again on June 10. But partly because of material supply delays, strikes, and “ineffectual working” since last week, the start would be delayed

at least seven days, Mr Birch said. “The latest estimates of average port stocks already indicates that there will only be a few days stock of petrol about June 20.” Mr Birch expected that some ports would be out of petrol completely, even if service stations do not run dry. It was ironical that the refinery maintenance workforce was doing more to choke off petrol and diesel supplies than the Iran-Iraq war, he said. “So far the four days lost have cost us about 30,000 tonnes of refinery production, predominantly of petrol and diesel which can never be made up, whereas

we have not yet lost a cargo out of the tense situation in the Gulf," Mr Birch said. “Even more important in net terms, this strike is preventing the processing of condensates and means that we will have to import more refined products from overseas refineries which have been derived from incremental Middle East Oil. These normally take a month to arrive. With the situation in the Gulf, this forced shift of dependence is dangerous,” Mr Birch said. The delay in the refinery start was costing New Zealand about $400,000 a day, which eventually would have to be paid by motorists, he said.