No methanol for S.A.—Petralgas

Press, 28 July 1987, Page 9

No methanol for S.A.—Petralgas

PA Wellington Petralgas says it will not in future sell methanol to clients who it knows will export the chemical to South Africa.

But the chief executive of Petralgas, Mr Vern Dark, said yesterday the company would have difficulty blocking South Africa sales if the methanol passed through an open market such as Rotterdam.

' Inquiries made last week established that

nearly 10,000 tonnes of methanol sold by Petralgas to an unknown client last month was loaded in a ship which went straight to South Africa, he said.

The 17,000 tonne chemical tanker Spinanger left New Plymouth on June 22 and arrived at Durban about July 14. According to Petralgas, the bill of loading on that shipment said it was headed for Singapore. Although crude and refined oil, along with telecommunications

equipment and arms, are banned exports to South Africa, methanol is a chemical and escapes the embargo. Mr Dark said: “If we know that it is going to South Africa we will not sell it. I don’t think there is any doubt about that. The question is, how do we find out?”

Earlier, the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said that New Zealand would not become an “international prostitute” and sell methanol to South Africa. Mr Lange said he had

asked for a report on last week’s shipment. “It seems as though the consignment might have gone to South Africa. I have not been able to confirm that is so yet, but from all the evidence I have thus far it looks as though it did,” he said.

There was no embargo on the sale of methanol to South Africa, but the Government had negotiated a voluntary agreement with the oil companies, stopping the sale of the product.

“Petrocorp would now be extremely vigilant about that. If there is a doubt about the destination then they will not sell.”

Mr Lange said there was more than one buyer in the world for the product, and there had never been a history of trading methanol to South Africa.

“We are not going to start now,” he said. Petralgas is the wholly owned subsidiary of Petrocorp which produces methanol at New Plymouth.