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After starting production at the end of last year, the Kupe gas and light oil field has an expected life of 15 years and is expected to provide approximately 254 PJ of natural gas, 1.1 million tonnes of LPG and 14.7 million barrels of light crude.
On December 31, the first 50 tonnes of NZOG’s LPG allocation was uplifted by Vector at the Kupe production station for trucking to Vector’s supply outlets. And on January 19 the first tanker containing 151,000 barrels of Kupe light oil (NZOG’s share 22,650 barrels) left Port Taranaki for Australia. NZOG chief David Salisbury says the testing and commissioning process of the complex offshore and onshore Kupe production system (the station is near Hawera) went well and was continued until March when the plant will have its official opening. Once in permanent production, Kupe will supply 10 to 15 percent of our annual gas demand and around half of the country’s LPG requirements, or 90,000 tonnes per annum. Salisbury was less enthusiastic about NZOG’s summer drilling programme which got off to a disappointing start in December with the Albacore-1 wildcat exploration well in the northern Taranaki Basin by the ENSCO-107 jack-up rig. “The well was non-commercial, with only traces of oil and gas found. Wire-line logs and down-hole tests were carried out and the information gained is being used to build a better understanding of the prospectivity of the area.” When the ENSCO-107 left New Zealand waters early in the new year, the remainder of the summer’s drilling programme was carried out by the Kan Tan IV semi-submersible rig which finally arrived in New Zealand after it was delayed drilling in Australia. The rig worked on the Hoki exploration well (in which NZOG has a 10 percent stake) which was spudded in late February. Salisbury says Hoki, on the western margin of the Taranaki basin, is a large potentially oil-bearing prospect. Participants in the Kupe project are: Origin Energy Resources Kupe (operator) 50 percent; Genesis Energy (through subsidiaries) 31 percent; New Zealand Oil & Gas (through subsidiaries) 15 percent and Mitsui E&P Australia four percent.
Energy NZ Vol.4 No.2 March-April 2010 |
Kupe was discovered 30 kilometres off the south Taranaki coast in 1986, but it was until December 4, 2009 that it started producing a return for NZOG (with its 15 percent stake) and other investors when gas entered the North Island gas pipeline system to be supplied to Genesis Energy. By the end of December, NZOG had supplied Genesis with 110 terajoules of gas. This commissioning gas was sold at a discounted rate because the volumes are variable during commissioning and the customer has to accept whatever amount of gas is provided.