While much of the offshore work will be similar to that of the more northern Pohokura gas-condensate project, the size and complexity of the Kupe development requires some special marine activity.

The $NZ1 billion ($A880 million) Pohokura development is a near-shore project, only about 8km off the north Taranaki coast, while the $NZ1.08 billion ($A945 million) Kupe project is about 30km off the more rugged south Taranaki coast.

Top of the list is a specialist pipelaying vessel not seen in New Zealand before.

The reel barge Apache, which has already picked up the Kupe umbilical manufactured in Corpus Christi in the United States, is due to arrive in New Zealand waters in early January.

The Technip vessel’s first task will be to lay the umbilical from the exit points of the horizontal direction drilling (HDD) about 1.8km off the coastal cliffs south of Hawera to the platform.

It will then head to the sheltered waters of Picton, near the top of the South Island, where it will load the already welded sections of the products pipeline, 300mm in diameter, and transport them north.

Starting from the HDD exit points, the Apache will lay the pipeline near the umbilical. In good weather, the Apache can lay up to 1km of pipe per hour, much faster than an ordinary lay barge.

For some of the shallow section, the umbilical and pipeline will rest on specially designed concrete mattresses – the same ones used last year at Pohokura – over previously laid rocks to even out a boulder field a short distance offshore.

Earlier this year the specialist rock-dumping vessel Pompei laid about 30,000 tonnes of more of rock over this boulder field to ensure the pipeline and umbilical will lay flat, adding stability – particularly important given Taranaki's weather and sea conditions that can be worse than the North Sea.

However, for most of the route they will lay in trenches, formed by jets of water from the specialist dive support vessel Rockwater 2, out to the platform.

Offshore work on the pipeline and umbilical should be finished by April.

The jack-up Ensco Rig 107 has now spudded the first of three Kupe development wells in the central field area (CFA), while Swire Pacific’s Pacific Warlock and the Tidewater Yeo Tide support vessels assist the scheduled drilling that should be finished next April or May.

The wells will then be tied-in to the production platform and products pipeline, awaiting the completion of the onshore production station before first flows to shore, which are scheduled from mid-2009.