"Continuing to improve our environmental performance is a key part of our business strategy."
- Sjord Post, Refining NZ CEOA new carbon dioxide (CO2) plant at Marsden Pt is unlikely to provide many jobs, if any, for Northlanders once it is running, with the plant to be operated remotely 24/7 from Auckland by specialist engineers.
Industrial gas and chemical company BOC will build the $40million plant at the Marsden Pt Oil Refinery and buy the CO2 - a byproduct of the refining process which has been going into the air through the refinery's chimneys - from Refining NZ.
It will purify it so it can then be sold for a variety of industries including food and beverage, dairy, wine, meat, fertiliser production, pulp and paper, and horticulture.
Construction of the plant is due to start later this year and be completed by the end of 2015. About 50 people will be employed during the build, but few, if any, after that.