Fine weather ahead

Neil Ritchie talks to the man with the view from the ‘bridge’ at Port Taranaki who is determined to maintain the facility’s leading role as the gateway to the country’s only commercial oil and gas region.

Port operations manager Captain Ray Barlow concedes that 2008 will be a hard year to follow, given the financial storms buffeting the world, including the global shipping trade and its extensive use of letters of credit.

The year 2008 was a year of records for Port Taranaki, the country’s only deepwater west coast port – the visit of the largest ever bulk liquids vessel, plus record revenues and container traffic volumes.

Last April the biggest bulk liquids vessel to visit, the tanker Cabo Negro, sailed with a record shipment of 44,992 tonnes of methanol on board. It came back to the port in May and June, but did not take on as much methanol as it did during its maiden visit.

Records also tumbled at other parts of Port Taranaki’s operations. The Blyde Wharf container terminal saw record volumes of container throughput, 59,586 TEUs (port talk for 20 foot equivalent units, a common container term) – a remarkable achievement given that the New Plymouth port was doing less than a tenth of that volume seven years earlier.

The number of vessel arrivals and departures during the 12 months was also a record, with 927 vessels over 100 gross registered tonnage visiting.

On the financial front, the port’s revenues also hit a new high, of $42.79 million, while the equity stake of Port Taranaki’s sole shareholder, Taranaki Regional Council, rose to a new record of $89.26 million.

On the energy front, Port Taranaki continued assisting many projects – notably all four major offshore oil and gas projects that together are changing the face of the New Zealand energy industry, adding depth and diversity to a sector that now contributes about $2 billion to the national economy each year.

The port helped with the completion of the offshore drilling campaign for the Pohokura gas field development and also took delivery of its first vessel dedicated to servicing an offshore oil and gas platform.

The 17.5 metre-long aluminium rigid inflatable boat Rawinia was built specifically for Port Taranaki that is providing the vessel under contract to Shell Todd Oil Services, which in turn is acting for Pohokura operator Shell Exploration New Zealand.

The Rawinia is being used primarily for the transfer of maintenance crews from the port to the nearby Pohokura production platform, which is usually unmanned as the whole field is run remotely by Shell from its New Plymouth offices.

However, it is vitally important for maintenance crews to be able to reach the platform around the clock, 365 days a year if necessary, to deal with any possible urgent problems with the platform or its production of gas and condensate (light oil).

Though it has been producing since mid-2007, the offshore Tui Area oilfield still gets assistance from Port Taranaki by it providing vessels to assist with offtakes of crude oil mid-ocean by visiting tankers. The port also acts as the supply base for equipment and personnel.

The port is offering similar assistance to the Maari oilfield development, which is due to finished in mid-2009, and to the Kupe gas project, which is due to be finished during the third quarter.

Finally, the port hosted the jack-up Ensco Rig 56 last year in between jobs for the Pohokura partners and Singapore’s STP Energy non-commercial exploration well Awakino South-1. The port also provided support during the drilling of that well and for the rig as it was towed to the sheltered waters of Admiralty Bay before returning to Asia.

Positive opportunities for 2009

When the Kupe project comes onstream, all condensate will be stored at the nearby Omata tank farm for export, either to the Marsden Point refinery or overseas – as already happens with condensate from Pohokura and other fields.

Kupe operator Australian firm Origin Energy is having two 15,000 cubic metre tanks constructed at nearby Omata, plus a new pipeline to the port’s Newton King Tanker Terminal, the first in over a decade.

Kupe will also bring an added bonus. Over the life of the field at least 1.1 million tonnes of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) will be extracted at the onshore production station, supplying up to half the country’s needs. Some will be transported by road tanker around the North Island, though most will be shipped from the port to Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton or Dunedin.

Captain Barlow adds that the Taranaki oil and gas sector is still looking reasonably buoyant for 2009-10, perhaps even beyond, with several offshore exploration wells planned off Taranaki and Northland.

There are also increased methanol shipments from the port following Methanex restarting one of two twin trains at its Motunui complex last October that nearly doubled production to about 900,000 tonnes per annum – “a strategically good move for Methanex, the country and the port,” he notes. 

“The international shipping industry is being decimated. But we will weather the global financial storm by being conservative, planning for the long term and continuing seeking economies of scale to keep unit costs stable at a time of increasing input costs.

“We are determined Port Taranaki will maintain its leading role in the New Zealand port sector – as the gateway to the country’s only commercial oil and gas region and, with over 40 years experience, in supporting the offshore exploration industry.”