Rob Buchanan is keen to see Channel Infrastructure play a greater role in New Zealand’s de-carbonisation that will open up more jobs and high-value manufacturing opportunities for Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte
Rob Buchanan is keen to see Channel Infrastructure play a greater role in New Zealand’s de-carbonisation that will open up more jobs and high-value manufacturing opportunities for Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte
Rob Buchanan has laid down the markers of what Channel Infrastructure’s focus would be going forward - and one is for the former Refining New Zealand site at Marsden Point to play a greater role in New Zealand’s de-carbonisation that will open up more jobs and high-value manufacturing opportunities for Northland.
The newly-appointed chief executive of Channel Infrastructure said this year was all about becoming “match-fit” as a terminal business and then taking the business forward by identifying growth opportunities as the refinery has almost been decommissioned.
“We’ve got a lot of space on site, a 35-year consent to be on site, a 220KV electricity link, a fuel and gas pipeline, a deep-water harbour. That’s a list of attributes that’s incredibly rare in New Zealand.”
Buchanan took over from Naomi James who was at the helm during the transition to Channel Infrastructure following an 18-month strategic review which the former was a part of as an adviser while working for Manawa Energy.
Born in the United States to a German mother and an American father, Buchanan moved to New Zealand when he was 5 and the family settled in Palmerston North.
After completing a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business, majoring in finance, he ended up at ABN Amro, a Dutch bank in Auckland, went to Amsterdam for a period and came back just before the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
He also worked at the Forsyth Bar for 10 years as its head of mergers and acquisitions before joining Trustpower, working on the separation of its retailer and generation business which became Manawa Energy.
Being part of the strategic review at Refining NZ, Buchanan got to know the business and people well which put him in good stead in terms of his new role.
“We’ve got a huge opportunity here. The business has been through a fundamental reset over the last two or three years. It’s been really difficult and it’s been really painful for a lot of people here. We’ve now got a sustainable business model here.”
Rob Buchanan has started work as the new CEO of Channel Infrastructure. Photo / Tania Whyte
With the new business as an import terminal, he said Channel Infrastructure has got long-term contracts with the major oil companies and stability of earnings and capital structure.
“But what we also have is this incredible site at Marsden Pt, 177 hectares, 400m litres of unused tanks on site and a real opportunity charting a new course, a new direction, and that will draw on not only what we’re doing today which is restoring liquid fuels and being an infrastructure provider in that space, but what we’ll do tomorrow in terms of the energy transition.”
Buchanan referred to an ongoing scoping study Channel Infrastructure is doing with Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) into the potential feasibility of green hydrogen production at Marsden Point, and an opportunity to produce eSAF, a synthetic fuel derived from renewable energy, as projects that could be undertaken on site.
He pointed to a report by Hale and Twomey on fuel demand which forecast that petrol demand in New Zealand would go close to zero by 2050, and diesel demand to increase and then decline to steady around areas which were difficult to de-carbonise, like heavy transport and agriculture.
“Whatever happens to petrol and diesel we will still be here — importing, storing, and transmitting jet fuel down the pipeline. But one of the opportunities for us, as we enter the carbon transition, is not just to use jet fuel that’s refined from a crude product but one that’s created from renewable electricity. That’s the type of thing we are thinking about for this site,” Buchanan said.
“I am really passionate about the Northland community and our place in the community. For me, finding a way to leverage this very special asset and create value for our company, and the community, is the win-win that I am looking for. That’s our biggest challenge, but also our biggest opportunity.”
