The petition calling on the government to take action to keep the Marsden Point Oil Refinery operating has topped ten thousand signatures.

The petition calls on the government to declare the refinery a strategic asset and keep it operating so it has the capability to refine the fuels needed to keep the essential services operating in a crisis.

In the event of a natural disaster or a geopolitical conflict the shipping routes to New Zealand could be cut off and the supply of fuel to major sectors of our economy severely compromised.

If that were to happen the refinery could process crude from Taranaki to enable emergency and rescue services, farm equipment for food production, transport to deliver food to supermarkets, and essential air and sea transport to continue to operate.

Those essential services could still function and ensure the country did not face an entire shutdown.

The current level four lockdown, and transport access problems when the Ashburton bridge was closed a couple of months ago shows the potential havoc that arises when supermarkets are closed and food supplies run short and a lack of transport caused by fuel shortages would make the situation many times worse.

The number of people who have signed the petition shows they do not believe promises from the oil companies and the Minister that fuel supplies will be secure can be relied on.

Neither does the Sustainability Council, or strategy experts like Dr Graeme Bethune, Dr John Coyne or researcher Tobias Dalley.

Government should compulsorily purchase the shares from the existing shareholders and turn the refining company into a state owned enterprise.

That could be achieved at no cost to taxpayers, using to capacity of the Reserve Bank which has already created around $60 billion in the last 18 months.

A Labour government used that capacity in the past and this one needs to stop sitting on the sidelines pretending the problem doesn’t exist and act in the interests of New Zealanders.

Government ownership of the refinery would also be the opportunity to break the stranglehold the oil companies have on fuel retailing.

That overseas stranglehold is likely to increase with Australia’s Ampol, owner of one of Australia’s two remaining refineries, bidding to take over New Zealand’s largest retailer Z Energy.

The refinery could become a wholesaler of fuel selling at a common price, allowing smaller retail operators to enter the market and provide real competition at the pump.

Approximately 600 jobs will be lost if the refining operation shuts down with many of those people being forced to look for jobs overseas with the consequent loss of yet more expertise and knowledge to New Zealand.

The petition has over 10,500 signatures and is here. https://www.change.org/Save-the-Refinery

Reference - nz-naive-to-shut-down-marsden-point-australian analyst

This list of essential services is not exhaustive but includes:-

- Air transport into and out of and around New Zealand including all our air freight exports
- Helicopter rescue services
- Coastal shipping, inter-island ferries and shipping to the Pacific Islands
- New Zealand's Army, Navy and Air Force including rescue and disaster relief operations
- Commercial fishing boats and short distance ferries
- The country's trucking fleet that moves goods around New Zealand
- Heavy construction machinery and infrastructure and road building equipment
- Agricultural machinery including forestry, farming and horticultural equipment
- Goods and passenger rail operations

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