The jack-up Ensco Rig 56 is due to start intermittent flaring of the well, scheduled to last a total of 24 hours over several days, for Pohokura partners Shell Energy New Zealand (SENZ), Todd Energy and Austrian firm OMV.
Once clean-up and initial flow testing has been completed, the well will be shut-in for several weeks until the multipurpose offshore support vessel Rockwater-2 returns to hook up the first offshore well to the gas-condensate pipeline to shore.
The multipurpose offshore support vessel, which earlier this year laid the flexible pipeline from the Pohokura platform to the onshore production station at Motunui, will also continue to stabilise the pipeline route with specially designed flexible mattresses.
Commercial gas from this first offshore well is expected to starting flowing to the onshore production station and then to customers that include Contact Energy, Genesis Energy and Vector subsidiary NGC, by next March or April.
Gas from the onshore three wells drilled from the Motunui coast but deviated out into the southern part of the 750 billion cubic feet-plus gas field has been flowing for several months into the North Island high-pressure gas network to customers.
The Pohokura partners are operator SENZ (48%), Todd Energy (26%) and OMV (26%).
