Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a second shutdown of the Marsden Point fuel pipeline to Auckland Airport shows the need for alternative infrastructure, calling it a "vulnerability".
A leak alarm forced the pipeline to be shut down yesterday before it was reopened last night, and the managing director of BP has said the outage could lead to fuel shortages and that work is being done to minimise the impact on customers.
In September, the pipeline was ruptured by a digger in farmland at Ruakaka in Northland, disrupting fuel supplies for a week and causing massive disruption to flights in and out of Auckland Airport.
Ms Ardern, speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast programme, said the incident highlighted the need for an alternative pipeline.
"We need to expedite that work to make sure we don't have that vulnerability," Ms Ardern said.
She said she had received a call about the issue yesterday and had passed it on to the relevant minister, Dr Megan Woods.
"There needs to be alternatives ... we just can't afford that kind of slowdown," Ms Ardern said.
"That infrastructure investment has been needed for some time ... its up to us to now resolve it."
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