Motunui closure to cost 40 jobs

Methanex's Motunui plant is set to close at the end of the year with the loss of 40 jobs from its Taranaki operations.

The full extent of the restructuring will be announced to staff at the end of this month.

The company is not exiting the region completely, and said there was enough secured gas supply to run its other plant at Waitara Valley until at least the end ofnext year.

"The Motunui plant will be shut down and made safe so that it can be started up again if more gas becomes available," Methanex public affairs manager Gerry Kennedy said.

"Methanex has a billion-dollar investment in Taranaki and will not give it up easily."

When at full production, Methanex injected $200 million a year into the national economy and $40 million annually into the Taranaki economy.

Alan Gardner, of the Amalgamated Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, said it was a foregone conclusion, for those in the know, that the plant would close.

"We have about 50 members in the operations and trades area. We don't know yet how many of those will be made redundant, but they are highly skilled people who will have no trouble finding more work," he said.

New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent said: "Methanex is a huge contributor to the economy and it [the closure] is a wake-up call for the community and country."

Mr Tennent called on the Government to help foster more gas exploration.

"It's time for those in Wellington to make some moves."

Ms Kennedy said that Methanex was not in the business of exploration, but it had contracted a drilling company to open up the old Radnor 1 and 2 wells at Midhirst for additional supplies of gas.

"These wells are a known source of supply," she said.

"There are 20 drilling licences being worked on Taranaki-wide, so there is a good chance that more gas will be found."

It would cost upwards of $10 million to restart the Motunui plant if more gas was found.

There are 125 people employed by Methanex in Taranaki.


- NZPA