For Immediate Release
27 July 2000
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
INCORRECT
BP’s Managing Director Peter Griffiths says Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton has again got his facts wrong in saying
that 83% of petrol sold in New Zealand comes directly from crude oil imports.
Figures from the New Zealand Refining Company (Marsden Point) show that 59% of petrol sold to date this year by New
Zealand’s four largest oil companies was made from crude oil at Marsden Point. This figure does not include Gull and
Challenge who import all their petrol.
So far this year, New Zealand’s four largest oil companies have imported 33% of their petrol as already-refined product,
the remaining 8% is made up of petrol components that are imported to be blended at Marsden Point into premium petrol.
Mr Griffiths says the New Zealand oil industry is one of the most open markets in the world and that New Zealand
motorists enjoy very competitive prices. In the United Kingdom, for example, a litre of petrol costs over $NZ3,
Melbourne motorists currently pay around NZ$1.17 a litre and even the US, which traditionally has low prices, is seeing
a litre of petrol sell for around NZ95 cents.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Jane Diver, Communications Manager
Phone: 04 495 5656
Pager: 026 105 169
Mobile: 025 575 668