File photo. The Methanex plant in Waitara Valley.
Photo: Google maps
The country’s biggest gas user Methanex is temporarily shutting its New Zealand methanol plants and making the gas available to power companies.
The business will be shut until the end of October and the gas has been sold to power companies Contact and Genesis, the company said.
Methanex chief executive Rich Sumner said the deal would help ensure electricity supplies during the current period of low gas reserves and hydro lakes.
It would sell gas to the power companies over the next three months and expected to earn more from the arrangement than the methanol income lost.
Meanwhile, Genesis was ramping up coal imports for its Huntly power station, it said.
Methanex is a major exporter of methanol produced from natural gas.
More to come …