Control room operator Aaron Holroyd will leave at the end of May after 35 years with Refining NZ and now Channel Infrastructure. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Control room operator Aaron Holroyd will leave at the end of May after 35 years with Refining NZ and now Channel Infrastructure. Photo / Michael Cunningham
After nearly seven decades of supplying the bulk of refined crude oil throughout New Zealand, Refining NZ at Marsden Point is now history as a new company starts operations today.
Channel Infrastructure's biggest shareholders, BP, Z Energy and Mobil Exxon, will import refined fuel from abroad after Refining NZshareholders voted overwhelmingly in August for the change to go ahead. This was because of what it said was a glut of fuel supplies globally, combined with the impact of Covid-19 on refinery output, pipeline fees and plummeting demand for fuel.
The shutdown of refining operations is complete and the new company expects to receive its first import shipment early this month.
The number of workers at the site is expected to drop over the next two years from 300 to about 70, with hundreds of contracting jobs and services from associated businesses in wider Northland also likely to be cut.
The Marsden Pt Refinery's last day of production. Photo / Michael Cunningham
First Union's site delegate and refinery control room operator, Aaron Holroyd, will lose his job at the end of May after 35 years at the refinery.
Being a qualified fitter/welder he should be able to find another job but he said many others would not be as lucky.
"It's disappointing because the closure of the refinery has essentially destroyed a profitable business. You look at the margins and if it's allowed to run, Refining NZ will be the most profitable business at the moment, given the high petrol prices.
"In the last decade, the company had spent about $700 million modernising and expanding the business and put in place a lot of modern equipment which is not being destroyed."
Holroyd said the refinery workers contributed $15m in taxes each year and spent a lot of disposable income in Whangārei, and this spending would disappear.
Channel Infrastructure owned by major oil companies is now importing refined fuel into Marsden Pt.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Janine Abernethy, of Marsden Metals Group, said an assurance from the new company about fuel security for Northland would be much appreciated.
"For a lot of businesses, the alternative to fossil fuels is not available so one of the things in the immediate future to happen is an open discussion about the supply of fuel. We don't want to play bridesmaid to Auckland in terms of securing fuel supply," she said.
"It's just a niggle out there. We in Northland don't want to wake up one day and the newspapers say fuel in Northland will only last three days."
The closure of Refining NZ, she said, was understandably a business decision. On the plus side, there were plenty of vacancies for jobs as overseas workers were unable to come into New Zealand at present.
The major oil companies earlier said they have different supply chains into New Zealand that would ensure adequate fuel for the domestic market.
Ruakākā Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman Jules Flight said to see an iconic business such as the refinery become history was sad.
"The business case was it couldn't really continue but it will keep employing some people. Some local businesses like scaffolding will be majorly affected, although the impact on the local community will be huge - but not as bad as one would've thought," he said.
