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Speaker 1: Helen dup to see Allen eighteen past five. Now, the

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Speaker 1: government says we are now preparing for a worst case

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Speaker 1: scenario when it comes to fuel. They're going to be

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Speaker 1: doing twice weekly updates starting Monday, and the Finance Minister,

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Speaker 1: Nikola Willis is with us. Now, Hi, Nikola, good evening.

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Speaker 2: Heather.

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Speaker 1: Has something changed for you to change your tone and

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Speaker 1: your messaging today?

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Speaker 2: Well, it remains the case that we have enough fuel

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Speaker 2: for at least seven weeks. That's good. There is no

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Speaker 2: need to panic, but it is a time to be

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Speaker 2: prepared because we will hope for the best but plan

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Speaker 2: for the worst. And there is a scenario in which,

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Speaker 2: because there is such global disruption to fuel supply, that

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Speaker 2: fuel importers into New Zealand could in the future struggle

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Speaker 2: to import the amount of fuel that they previously have,

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Speaker 2: and we think it's prudent to be acting now to

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Speaker 2: be ready in case that happens.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So if we have to start eating to it

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Speaker 1: into our fuel reserves, which is not the end of

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Speaker 1: the world, that's why they're there. But if we do,

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Speaker 1: at what point do we start worrying?

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Speaker 2: Well, you're right, we have those minimum stockholding obligations of

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Speaker 2: fuel that has to be in the country at any

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Speaker 2: one time, so that we've got a buffer that gives

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Speaker 2: us time to prepare if we know that there is

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Speaker 2: going to be a shortage. And what we have is

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Speaker 2: three strings of activity. One, we're working diplomatically to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the fuel that is in the world is

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Speaker 2: available to New Zealand. Two, we're working very closely with

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Speaker 2: fuel industry to ensure that if there are any changes

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Speaker 2: we need to make to regulations around the specifications of

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Speaker 2: fuel or anything like that that would help them open

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Speaker 2: up options for where they buy it internationally, that we're

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Speaker 2: ready to move on that. And then the third piece

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Speaker 2: is if we got to a point where we knew

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Speaker 2: we had constrained supply coming into the country, what are

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Speaker 2: the domestic triggers for anything we would do here at

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Speaker 2: home to prioritize fuel to those who really really need it. Now,

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Speaker 2: we haven't agreed on a plan with industry on that yet.

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Speaker 2: We are working on that in real time, and I'll

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Speaker 2: have more to say about that next week.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you mentioned in your press conference today that there

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Speaker 1: has been re rooting of products. Which products.

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Speaker 2: This is our exporters, some of home. Of course, we're

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Speaker 2: taking dairy products and meat to the Middle East, and

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Speaker 2: some of them have no longer been able to take

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Speaker 2: that to port. So in some cases MPIs worked with

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Speaker 2: them to make sure they can get new export certificates

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Speaker 2: to take that to other markets around the world. In

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Speaker 2: some cases there are shipments that have come home and

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Speaker 2: they're now putting those products into cool storage while they

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Speaker 2: find new homes for that around the world.

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Speaker 1: Okay, beyond the seven weeks of fuel that we have

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Speaker 1: in the country, have we got assurances from South Korea

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Speaker 1: and from Singapore that we will continue to receive oil.

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Speaker 2: In the case of South Korea and Singapore, we have

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Speaker 2: at this point got confirmation from them that they are

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Speaker 2: going to be continuing to supply fuel internationally out of

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Speaker 2: their refineries. However, South Korea have already said that they're

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Speaker 2: going to be limiting orders to twenty twenty five levels.

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Speaker 2: In New Zealand's case, that's okay, but we're just anticipating

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Speaker 2: that down the line that could change if they had

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Speaker 2: a limitation on how much they needed for their own

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Speaker 2: people in their own country. In Singapore's case, we have

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Speaker 2: a very close relationship with them, including an agreement that

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Speaker 2: we will prioritize them in areas of critical shortage, particularly food,

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Speaker 2: and they'll prioritize us in the areas of critical shortage,

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Speaker 2: particularly fuel. So diplomatically we're in a good position with

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Speaker 2: both of those countries, but we're just anticipating that as

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Speaker 2: this conflict in the Middle East unfolds, a range of

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Speaker 2: countries around the world could find themselves in a situation

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Speaker 2: where they're not producing as much fuel as they normally do,

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Speaker 2: and we'll have to consider measures that are outside the norm.

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Speaker 1: Nichola, listen, thank you very much for fitting us in

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Speaker 1: because I know your diaries jam pack today and you

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Speaker 1: had the phone call with Australia, so thank you for

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Speaker 1: that. That's Nichola Willis, our Finance Minister.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: They'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.