Source: Radio New Zealand
The finance minister says New Zealand’s fuel stocks remain at seven weeks worth, including stockpiles.
But Nicola Willis concedes that keeping that buffer was still “dependent on ships like this continuing to turn up”.
Speaking on Sunday afternoon at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point Energy Precinct, Willis said she wanted to provide more information to address peoples’ concerns about delays in that supply.
She said New Zealand had a number of places fuel supplies arrive into the country, but Marsden Point is the largest.
Today’s visit comes amid fears of an energy crisis, with the global price of oil skyrocketing in the wake of the US and Israel’s attack on Iran.
Iran’s response has included threatening ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for the transportation of fuel exports from the Middle East, and strikes on US-friendly neighbours’ energy infrastructure.
Marsden Point is New Zealand’s fuel import terminal, and until 2022 also had an oil refining facility. New Zealand now relies on imported refined fuels, without a facility to refine raw products.
Senior coalition politicians are at odds over whether the facility should have been closed.
Marsden Point. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Willis told Morning Report on Friday price increases were extremely tough and affecting all New Zealanders, but some were feeling it more than others.
“I can’t solve the pain for everyone. The cost of doing that would potentially involve levels of spending that would drive inflation higher, and certainly would put us in a more fragile position in terms of debt.
“So what we are looking at, is there something very targeted and temporary that we could do to assist those workers in particular who are most acutely impacted by these household budget squeezes?”
IRD and Treasury have been asked to come up with a package that could be implemented with urgency ahead of the Budget.
Willis will talk to the media at 2pm – watch it live here.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
