The OD&E Rig 41 – the largest land-based rig yet seen in NZ which Pohokura operator Shell Todd Oil Services imported from Indonesia earlier this year – has spudded the water disposal well from a coastal site adjacent to the now mothballed Methanex Motunui methanol complex.

The well - known as PW-01, short for Pohokura Water-01 - is the first of four wells to be drilled by the OD&E Rig 41 during the next 12 months. The others are to be production wells deviated from onshore several kilometres offshore into the southern portion of the possible 1tcf field.

Rig 41 weighs about 1500 tonnes, has a 60m derrick, and can drill wells as long as 6100m.