Duke praises ‘bold’ petrol-plant decision

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 3

Duke praises ‘bold’ petrol-plant decision

By

SIMON LOUISSON

at Motunui

The Duke of Edinburgh pushed the button yesterday to open officially the Motunui synthetic petrol plant in Taranaki although he said it was “quite clearly doing something already.”

At a luncheon to celebrate the commissioning of the $3 billion plant, the Duke congratulated New Zealand for taking the bold decision to use the pioneering and untried gas-to-gasoline process.

He said there was always a problem of reconciling the need for energy with the need to conserve the environment. The deserts being created in Africa were a result of exploitation of natural energy resources, he said. Referring to the controversy over the economics of the project, the Duke said that external economic factors did not detract from the engineering feat.

Mobil Oil Corporation’s executive vice-president, Mr Paul Hoenmans, told the 700 guests at the opening that the plant was the “largest, most efficient, and most advanced synthetic fuels plant in the world.”

“The technology it represents provides better yields and greater thermal efficiency than any other process.” Synthetic petrol from the plant will produce one-third of New Zealand’s petrol needs for at least the next 22 years. It is expected to product 570,000 tonnes a year and is already running above design capacity. It produces enough petrol per minute to fuel an averagesized car up and down New Zealand eight times.

Mr Hoenmans said that while the world was now producing more oil than it consumed, the plant would still be producing when supplies were expected to be tighter and prices much higher.

The chairman of the New Zealand Synthetic Fuels Corporation (operator of the plant), Dr Colin Maiden, said that during the 1970 s politicians came under intense pressure to reduce New Zealand’s dependence on overseas oil imports. He emphasised the strategic benefits for New Zealand even though the economic benefits had lessened with low world oil prices. Among the guests was the former National Minister of Energy, Mr Bill Birch, who was and is still one of the strongest advocates of the scheme. Mr Birch said he would still build the plant today. The Opposition’s spokesman on energy, Mr Tony Friedlander, criticised the Government for not seeking to maximise New Zealand benefits from the plant. He was referring to the lack of progress on developing durene, a highly priced plastic by-product of the process.