About The Good Oil

Pure Oil New Zealand’s Rolleston plant has an interesting backstory. It was originally built in the early 2000s with the intention of producing biofuel. When that market didn’t develop as expected, the facility was set to close. But a group of New Zealanders already involved in agriculture saw a different future for it, transforming the facility into a local oilseed processing business focused on food, farming, and long term sustainability.

The Good Oil began with a simple idea. One morning, our Managing Director Nick Murney cooked eggs in virgin rapeseed oil and loved the flavour and results. Having spent time in the UK where cold pressed rapeseed oil is well known, he believed New Zealand could produce an oil of the same quality, right here at home. The first trial batch was pressed in 2014 and shared with growers and industry partners as a Christmas gift. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and The Good Oil launched into supermarkets in 2016.

From the start, the goal was to create oils that are proudly New Zealand made and genuinely useful in Kiwi kitchens. Our high oleic rapeseed is chosen for its smooth taste, healthy fat profile and high smoke point, making it ideal for roasting, frying, dressings and dipping.

In 2018, we introduced another crop option for South Island arable farms, high oleic sunflowers. Sunflowers add diversity to cropping rotations and are valued for their deep roots that help improve soil structure for following crops. After several seasons of development and growth, The Good Oil Extra Virgin Sunflower Oil launched in 2019, bringing a delicious natural sunflower seed flavour to our range.

Today, The Good Oil is enjoyed by home cooks across the country, and it’s also supported by many New Zealand food manufacturers who value locally made, high quality oils with reliable supply and performance. Alongside our retail range, Pure Oil New Zealand supplies a wide range of New Zealand made edible oils to hospitality businesses and food manufacturing customers, from bulk oils for high volume cooking, through to premium extra virgin oils for chefs who want flavour, consistency and local provenance.

Sustainability has always been part of the model. We work hard to make sure every part of the crop is used, including the high protein meal produced during pressing, which supports New Zealand’s stock feed needs and helps reduce reliance on imported alternatives. And in an unexpected but fitting twist, Pure Oil New Zealand has now come full circle, returning to the original purpose the Rolleston facility was built for. We collect used cooking oil from hospitality and food manufacturing customers and recycle it into biofuels and other bio based industrial products, helping displace imported fossil based oils and petrochemicals. It’s a uniquely New Zealand closed loop system, locally grown crops, locally pressed oils, and responsible end of life recycling, all working together.