Source: Radio New Zealand
Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones says stronger action is on the cards next week. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Cabinet minister Shane Jones is putting pressure on fuel companies to share more information about their shipments, warning that the government could force them to do so via regulation if necessary.
The country’s fuel stocks have dropped in the past two updates, but officials said there was no need for alarm. The Taxpayers’ Union, however, called for more frequent updates and more comprehensive data.
Jones – who is associate energy minister – told RNZ the government relied on the oil companies to regularly provide high quality information and had the ability to regulate if that was not forthcoming.
“I’ve no doubt early next week, we will address this issue and update whether or not there’s further information that they can provide and any reluctance to provide it… we’ll move forward with alacrity.”
Officials would report on whether extra powers were needed to secure that information, Jones said.
“We have not been told to date that is absolutely necessary, but this is fair warning.”
The tone was much more strident than that of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon who told reporters on Wednesday that the government had had “very good engagement” with fuel importers from day one.
“They are sharing a lot of commercially sensitive information to us that’s giving us very good visibility over the picture,” Luxon said.
RNZ has sought a response from Z Energy, BP and Mobil. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has also been approached for comment.
Coping with ‘fuel fiasco’
Jones said his “zest” for more information was driven by rising levels of uncertainty in the business community.
He acknowledged the fuel companies were dealing with massive logistical changes and operating in a competitive market, but he said the fuel crisis trumped any “minor confidentiality matters”.
“The fuel companies are nervous that their confidentiality of what they’ve got on the water, the names of the ships, the quantities, may be compromised, but we’re in the midst of a fuel fiasco,” he said.
“The fuel companies have line of sight, and we want to get as much certainty as possible.”
Speaking to RNZ from Washington DC, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was satisfied with the quality and frequency of information fuel companies were currently providing.
But she said the government stood “ready to regulate” if it became concerned that data was not being provided in a “timely and uniform way”.
“We’re asking for more information than they normally provide. They haven’t always been as fast in providing it as we would see in an ideal world. But there does appear to be goodwill and an understanding about why we need it. If they weren’t to provide it, then we would require them to, by law.”
Willis said the fuel importing companies had begun sharing “more granular data” about fuel consumption which would be critical if the country shifted up a level in the National Fuel Plan.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
