Juniors take to Bass Strait [13jan06]

New Zealand should be at Sydney climate change conference

New Zealand’s absence from this week’s climate change conference in Sydney is an opportunity missed, says Alasdair Thompson, chief executive of the Northern Employers & Manufacturers Association.

“We cannot afford to be left behind our major trading partners all of whom are at the conference,” Mr Thompson said.

“We should be actively seeking to join their practical approach.

“The six nations at the conference –US, China, Japan, India, Australia and South Korea - will be proposing ‘industry specific’ reforms to cut climate change emissions and introduce green-friendly technologies.

“The technology based approach is far more likely to address the green house emissions than punitive, carbon taxes New Zealand was proposing to meet our Kyoto obligations which would have damaged our economy.

“Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which has no action strategies to reduce emissions, the six nations have a common strategy in place and it involves all the biggest emitters.

“We should have been there. Perhaps Climate change Minister David Parker can explain why we aren’t.”

"It's fantastic," he said.

"One of the things we are really, really proud of is that this is very much an Australian project."

The Basker-Manta fields, about 70km off Lakes Entrance, were discovered in the 1980s but rejected as too small by Shell and Woodside.

It has taken Anzon and Beach just 12 months to bring the project into production using a floating production, storage and off-take vessel (FPSO).

The FPSO, which remains on site and processes the oil before it is sent to the shuttle tanker, has allowed the juniors to push ahead without the hefty cost of platform and pipeline infrastructure.

Use of a shuttle tanker also gives the two companies scope to sell to international markets.

The transfer of about 300,000 barrels of oil from the Basker Spirit to the Braveheart began yesterday afternoon and is expected to be complete by about 10am today.

The second shipment of oil from the project is expected to be delivered to an Australian refinery in early March.

"In terms of testing the market, we felt it was better to sell small parcels on the spot market to a range of companies," Mr Young said.

He said that had enabled Anzon, which is operating the project, to take advantage of higher spot market prices.

Full production from the Basker-Manta fields is expected to begin in September at a rate of about 25,000 barrels a day.

Anzon shares finished 2c higher at $1.24. Beach Petroleum climbed 5.5c to $1.155.