New Zealand's biggest gas user, Methanex, fears for long-term output

New Zealand's biggest gas user, Methanex, fears for long-term output
Pattrick Smellie
By Pattrick Smellie April 13 (BusinessDesk) - Banning new offshore gas exploration "has significant implications for long-term gas supply" says Methanex New Zealand, which uses around 40 percent of all natural gas produced in this country to manufacture methanol, mainly for export. The Canadian-owned company operates plants built in the early 1980s 'Think Big' era of government-led petro-chemical industrial development, at Waitara and Motonui, using gas piped ashore from offshore Taranaki gas fields. Those fields will continue to produ...