Major Investment Set To Help Refinery Cut Emissions

A $40M plant to be built at Marsden Point by industrial gases company BOC will help Refining NZ to further reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from its refining operations.

The plant to be constructed at the Northland based refinery will take CO2, a by-product of the refining process, and purify it for use across a range of industries, including food and beverage, dairy, horticulture and pulp and paper.

Refining NZ Chief Executive Officer, Sjoerd Post described the agreement reached with BOC over the supply of CO2 as a significant “win-win” for the refinery and New Zealand manufacturers.

“Continuing to improve our environmental performance is a key part of our business strategy. This investment gives us the capability to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 50,000 tonnes a year, and is a neat fit with our $365M Te Mahi Hou project, which will reduce CO2 emissions by around 120,000 tonnes a year,’’ Post said.

“At the same time as reducing our environmental footprint it makes business sense all round to create a revenue stream independent of refining margins and the exchange rate – both of which impact processing fee revenue - while helping to secure an essential feed-stock for New Zealand manufacturers for the foreseeable future.’’

The CO2 plant to be built by BOC is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015 and will employ around 50 people in its construction.

Refining NZ’s Te Mahi Hou project is due on-line late 2015 and is expected to lift processing fee revenue by an estimated $70M per annum, and margins by around USD 1.10 per barrel.