Building started in 1962 and went fairly smoothly considering the inexperience of the workforce. As there was no oil refining experience in the country, most of the work force were either expatriates or immigrant workers with some trained locals. The integrated nature of the refinery made the start up somewhat demanding, but the refinery was started and ran successfully with a combination of quickly gained experience, good luck and Kiwi ingenuity. The first tanker load of Kuwait feedstock arrived in Feb 1964 on the MOBIL ENTERPRISE, the refinery started up on April 30th, and officially opened by the Prime Minister, Keith Holyoake, on May 30th. The first cargo of refined product left the refinery on June 1st - a Fuel oil export - followed by the first domestic cargo of Mogas on June 12th.