Crude petroleum from three nearby wells is refined at New Plymouth, producing small quantities of oil and supplying some natural gas daily to the town. If the recently discovered supplies of natural gas in South Taranaki prove to warrant development within the next few years, it is expected that this source will meet a large portion of the North Island's needs for gas heating. It is also expected that useful quantities of condensate (mainly light oil) will become available for processing at the Marsden Point Refinery, Whangarei. A number of factories refine used lubricating oils, blend lubricating oils, and manufacture greases, foundry coke, carbonettes, creosote, tar, and various bituminous products.
Warning
This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.
Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.
Petroleum and Coal Products
Co-creator
Henry Curran Holden, M.A., Director, Trade Relations and Economics Division, and Economist, Department of Industries and Commerce, Wellington.