National Party energy and resources spokesperson Stuart Smith told Morning Report government inaction has been a major cause of the problem.
"[Finance Minister] Grant Robertson was warned that if ACC was forced to sell their 10 percent shareholding in the refinery it would likely close and he just virtually laughed it off."
CO2 shortages were a consequence of this, Smith said.
"We have always suffered from the tyranny of distance and we're also quite a small market so when there's global shortages of things such as CO2, as there is at the moment, we have an issue with a plant not being able to produce it now."
Words are easy, then again National thinks you can just turn a refinery on and off.