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Australia refinery

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:55 am
by fmmarc
I'm new to this forum so please bare with me, I remember in the 1970's at the height of the oil crisis Australia or New Zealand had a refinery(for lack of the proper term) that turned ocean water into fuel for autos. I believe, but could be wrong, that it extracted oil from the ocean water. When the oil crisis was over it was not cost effective any more. Does anybody remember this and if so does anybody have any info on the refinery, or a link that can explain where and how the refinery worked.
Thanks for your help
Marc

Re: Australia refinery

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:43 pm
by Steptoe
Not in NZ
In the 70s we had Muldoon as PM...and his "think big" policy that near bankrupted the country.
Built a Refinary at Marson point that is still operatinal that refines light crude.
A project to grow turnips and ferment alcohol in the Taranaki.
A couple hydro projects, benmore and matapuriri that set the greenies off big time
Thermal project just north of Taupo
And we where getting CNG and LPG out of the off shore drilling off the taranaki coast...which I belive now is pretty well exhausted.
As far as Aussie goies, ?I dont know all the details over there, but there was huge off shore exploration in the Austarian bite I think it was, and still producing I believe.

But oil products from seawater....someone is pulling you chain m8... we are pretty clever down under...we split the atom and stuff...but oil from water...not that clever lol

Re: Australia refinery

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 3:53 am
by storm
Talk about a thread dig but this is interesting.

As Steptoe so eloquently said we are clever downunder, yes we split the beer atom but refine oil from water? yes and a huge NO.

During the 70s I was in Primary School and I did an assignment in 3rd grade on the oil crisis. I remember people said we needed to drill into the Great Barrier Reef to get raw crude so we could be self sufficient. It was because of that it become world heritage listed in 1981.

The Great Australian Bight is an interesting area. It is quite large and very unstable geologically. There are earthquakes and tremors in the bight quite often and, when I was living in SA not far from the coast, people are asked to keep an eye out for oil slicks to make it easier to find good drill sites. I am sorry to say there are some nutters around who do think that oil can be refined from sea water if it is found as a slick. When the oil pipe ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico a few years back how many gallons were refined directly from the sea water?

All workshops are required to have an oil water separator but that isn't about refining oil but rather cleaning water so it can return to the environment. The oil is reclaimed by waste oil operators who use it for furnace oil and other such purposes.

Re: Australia refinery

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 5:34 pm
by Steptoe
Not only workshops, goes far further than tat, including vehicle wash stations etc...these now clean and recycle the water..

While you where at primary school , I was in the work force, and yes politically active back in the 1st oil crisis.

An odd stat thu.. if inflation/ cost adjustments are made, even with the high oil prices of today, back then fuels was still far more expensive..

Re: Australia refinery

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 3:40 am
by storm
I just realised how far back that was, 1973 (due to Yom Kippor war) and 4 years later in Australia we were still being affected by it (I was in 3rd grade in 1977). 1979 was the 2nd with the political instability in Iran and the Iran-Iraq war of 1980.

Re: Australia refinery

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 6:20 pm
by Steptoe
When you know where you where, when kennedy was assinated.. then worry about how far back... :wink: