Motunui

Motunui (large island in Maori, from Motu Nui[1]) is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, six kilometres east of Waitara.

For the Chilean islet of a similar name, see Motu Nui.
For the fictional island, see Moana (2016 film).
Motunui
Motunui
Coordinates: 38°59′43″S 174°17′44″E
CountryNew Zealand
RegionTaranaki
DistrictNew Plymouth District

Methanol plant

Motunui is the location of the Motunui methanol plant, the largest in the world at the time of construction.[2] It was opened in 1986 to convert natural gas to methanol and the methanol to synthetic petrol using a process developed by Mobil. The plant was one of the Think Big projects of the Third National Government. The process became uneconomic in the late 1990s as a result of falling oil prices, so the synthetic petrol part of the plant was decommissioned, with the production of synthetic petrol ceasing in April 1999.[3] The plant instead produced methanol for export. Production of methanol ceased in 2004 as the approaching depletion of the Maui gas field raised gas prices.[4]

In 2005, an unmanned production station for the new offshore Pohokura oil/gas field was constructed immediately west of the Motunui plant. This began commercial production in September 2006.[5] In 2008, methanol train No.2 was recommissioned followed by train No.1 in 2012.[6]

Currently owned and operated by Methanex, the plant's two trains have a total annual production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes of methanol.[6]

References
  1. "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
  2. "Motunui Synthetic Fuels Plant". Heritage Records. Engineering New Zealand. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  3. Energy Data File 2011 (PDF). Wellington: Ministry of Economic Development. 2011. p. 16.
  4. "Oil and gas - The Māui gas field". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
  5. "Pohokura". Todd Energy. Archived from the original on 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  6. "Methanex in New Zealand". Methanex. 13 November 2012.


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