The Northland economy is in for a boost as the Marsden Point oil refinery begins its biggest maintenance shut-down in more than a decade.
Marsden Point oil refinery Photo: 123rf.com
It's budgeted $85 million for the job, with most of that going into wages, contracting equipment, and accommodation.
The refinery shuts down parts of its plant every year for safety checks, cleaning and maintenance work.
But chief executive Sjoerd Post said this time the entire refinery would shut down for 10 days, something that happened only once every 15 years.
Two thousand tonnes of scaffolding had been installed; the workforce had almost doubled to nearly a thousand and would swell to nearly 1300 people at the peak of the shut-down, Mr Post said.
"Certainly this is bringing a lot of work to Whangarei; I think we've booked out every motel and hotel and with catering it's a very good boost to the local economy," he said.
Mr Post said refinery neighbours could expect heavy traffic on the Marsden Point road over the month, and some flaring this week to allow hydrocarbons to be vented safely.
"It'll be uncannily silent, but regrettably there will be some significant flaring as we take the hydrocracker down," he said.
Mr Post said the flaring was necessary for safety reasons.
"You need to release pressure in the system as each unit shuts down, to make sure you don't get a huge overload," he said.
Mr Post said the shutdown had been scheduled into agreements with the refinery's oil company customers and would not affect fuel supplies around the country.