New Zealand's Auckland airport delays new runway plans

Market: Oil products
30/04/25

New Zealand's Auckland airport, the country's largest, will delay plans for a second runway for at least 10 years because of operational and efficiency measures, it said on 29 April.

Its plans to build a second runway by 2028 would be delayed by a decade, but operational innovation could extend that timeline further. The airport's master plan anticipates 38mn passengers/yr will transit through Auckland by 2047, up from 18.6mn in the 2024 fiscal year to 30 June, with air cargo growing by 40pc to 223,000 t/yr by 2047.

The airport has yet to reach pre-Covid-19 passenger numbers and its main user, state-controlled carrier Air New Zealand, has reported ongoing problems with aircraft availability, which has slashed its available seat kilometres — a metric used to calculate capacity — in January-June.

Auckland's passenger numbers for the first three months of 2025 dipped by 1pc on the year and on the quarter (see table) with domestic travel plummeting while international transits increased slightly on the quarter. Auckland's available seats to the US dropped by 18pc during March because of cancelled services, the airport said.

New Zealand's jet fuel imports totalled 26,000 b/d in the January-March quarter, data from analytics firm Kpler show. Official data for October-December 2024 show 34,000 b/d of imports, up by 17pc on the quarter.

The New Zealand government is exploring options for increasing fuel security, including developing biofuels, in the wake of twin reports into the nation's situation released in February.

By Tom Major

Auckland Airport passenger traffic					(mn)
	Jan-Mar '25	Oct-Dec '24	Jan-Mar '24	q-o-q % ±	y-o-y % ±

Total	4.93	4.99	5	-1	-1
International	2.79	2.75	2.79	1	0
Domestic	1.86	2.24	2.21	-17	-16
Source - Auckland Airport

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Refinery maintenance to limit Bahrain's bitumen exports

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German road firms issued €10.5mn tender-rigging fines

14/05/25

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German road firms issued €10.5mn tender-rigging fines

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US budget bill would prolong 45Z, boost crops

13/05/25

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13/05/25

US budget bill would prolong 45Z, boost crops

New York, 13 May (Argus) — A proposal from House Republican tax-writers would extend for four additional years a new tax credit for low-carbon fuels and adjust the incentive to be more lenient to crops used for biofuels. Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday introduced their draft portion of a far-reaching budget bill, which included various changes to Inflation Reduction Act clean energy subsidies. But the "45Z" Clean Fuel Production Credit, which requires fuels to meet an initial carbon intensity threshold and then ups the subsidy as emissions fall, would be the only incentive from the 2022 climate law to last even longer than Democrats planned under the current draft. The proposal represents an early signal of Republicans' plans for major legislation through the Senate's reconciliation process, which allows budget-related bills to pass with a simple majority vote. 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That pathway, known as transferability, would end for clean fuel producers after 2027, hurting small biodiesel producers that operate under thin margins in the best of times as well as SAF startups that were planning to start producing fuel later this decade. Markets unresponsive, but prepare for new possibilities There was little immediate reaction across biofuel, feedstock, and renewable identification number (RIN) credit markets, since the bill could be modified and most of the changes would only take force in the future. But markets may shift down the road. Limiting eligibility to feedstocks originating in North America for instance could continue recent strength in US soybean oil futures markets. July CBOT Soybean oil futures closed 3pc higher on Monday at 49.92¢/lb on the news and have traded even higher today. The spread between soybean oil and heating oil futures is then highly influential for the cost of D4 biomass-based diesel RIN credits, which are crucial for biofuel margins and have recently surged in value to their highest prices in over a year. The more lenient carbon accounting will also help farmers eyeing a long-term future in renewable fuel markets and will support margins for ethanol and biodiesel producers reliant on crops. Corn and soy groups have pushed the government for less punitive emissions tracking, worried that crop demand could wane if refiners could only turn a profit by using lower-carbon waste feedstocks instead. The House bill, if passed, would still run up against contradictory incentives from other governments, including SAF mandates in Europe that restrict fuels from crops and California's efforts to soon limit state low-carbon fuel standard credits for fuels derived from vegetable oils. By Cole Martin and Matthew Cope Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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