Marsden Point oil refinery – it's not coming back

The government-funded inquiry into whether to reopen Marsden Point is pointless, asking a question with only one obvious answer. (Image: NZME)

Pattrick Smellie

Thu, 21 Mar 2024

The announcement of a government-funded inquiry into whether to reopen the Marsden Point oil refinery is performative nonsense.The refinery is privately owned by Channel Infrastructure, which concluded it couldn’t be made to run profitably.Labour under Jacinda Ardern had the option to prop it up but declined, concluding that while the technology loss was a shame, fuel supply resilience was not put at much greater risk than the country faces already.Marsden Point refined crude oil imported from the rest of the world. Such oil as is or was...

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