Online petition to save Marsden Pt Oil Refinery has almost 16,000 signatures

Chris Leitch's online petition for government intervention in Refining NZ has garnered more than 15,000 signatures so far. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A petition that has already garnered almost 16,000 signatures calling on the Government to help save the Marsden Pt oil refinery from shutting down could be one of the largest signed on an online platform.

Whangārei-based Chris Leitch of the Social Credit Party last month started the petition on change.org, calling on the Government to declare the refinery a nationally strategic asset and to compulsorily buy all the shares from private owners using money created by the Reserve Bank.

The Government, he said, should then turn it back into a state-owned enterprise and allow fuel retailers, rather than a monopoly consisting of major oil companies as is the case at present, to sell fuel in the country.

His call comes days before the Refining NZ board is due to make a final decision on the site becoming an import-only fuel terminal under the name Channel Infrastructure following a strategic review.

As at 12pm yesterday,

15,949 people had signed the petition and Leitch said he would let it run for a little longer given the support it attracted from people throughout New Zealand.

At 25,000, his petition will become one of the top five signed on www.change.org .

"The numbers are climbing reasonably well and we are promoting the petition through a number of sources with a view to getting the numbers up significantly.

"While a good number of people in Whangārei and Northland are aware of the impending closure of the refinery, a lot of them elsewhere are quite surprised it was happening," Leitch said.

The need for government intervention, he said, was growing given certain factors at play recently, including the escalating geopolitical conflict between the China and the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

He said the Government could still intervene even after the final decision on an import-only fuel terminal was made.

A final decision by Refining NZ board on a fuel-only import terminal model is expected in a week or two. Photo / Supplied

The refinery's shareholders in August voted overwhelmingly for the change to go ahead due to a glut of fuel supplies globally, combined with the impact of Covid-19 on refinery output, pipeline fees and plummeting demand for fuel.

Energy Minister Megan Woods said a number of parties have approached the Government with proposals for the refinery's future and views on fuel security, and the possible future uses of the site.

She said the Government continued to keep an open mind about the planned closure of the refinery and potential future uses for the site, including green fuels.

The minister said the Government was considering options to promote fuel supply security in a situation with no domestic refining, including the fuel stockholding policies.