23rd December 2022

 

The Marsden Point refinery has closed.

 

The Kapuni plant has shut down for a month I am told. You may wonder and ask, well what does that have to do with us and the answer will shock you to the core.

 

The Kapuni plant is the last major producer of CO2 in New Zealand and with it being shutdown we are all going to feel the effects very quickly.

 

CO2 is a necessary item in many of the daily processes that we never see actually see but which we reap the benefit of such as food production, waste water processing, medical procedures etc.

 

CO2 is not something that we can just ring up and have delivered at the drop of a hat as it takes specialist transport operations and containers and most of our supply is now imported by shipping.

 

The transport is both time consuming and expensive and will have another upward effect on the cost of living in NZ but more importantly in a situation where we have run out of the gas there will be major consequences for supply of many food items and the related employment of personnel in the food manufacturing industries.

 

For one example, without an adequate supply of CO2 the carbonated drinks manufacturers will not be able to produce and with the high demand of the summer holiday season on us there will be problems throughout the supply chain for many food and drink items from manufacture to point of sale.

 

The Marsden Point oil refinery was the major supplier of CO2 for NZ but with that operation being shutdown we are now left with the Kapuni plant as the only real large scale alternative.

 

Since the refinery closed we have already seen issues around supply of fuels and now we are seeing another perverse outcome of that decision in the failure of the supply chain for CO2.

 

Definitely a case of the closure coming back to haunt us!