The company's annual report, released earlier this week, said Genesis was scheduled to appoint a new operator this month.

However, company chief executive Murray Jackson now says that deadline has slipped to December as Genesis is still meeting with prospective operators, "but we want it out before Christmas."

Earlier this year six international companies registered their interest in taking over as operator of the field, as well as gaining a significant chunk of Genesis' 70% stake in Kupe, which will climb to 81% once Energy Minister Pete Hodgson sells the government's former "free carry" interest to Genesis.

EnergyReview.Net reported in August that it was believed the Kupe operatorship had essentially become a two-horse race between Aussie companies Origin and Santos.

Adelaide-headquartered Santos already has board approval to try for Kupe and some staff visited New Zealand in July, while Brisbane-based Origin Energy also visited the Genesis data room in Auckland as part of its due diligence process.

Jackson said Genesis still wanted Kupe producing gas by the first half of 2007.

He also defended Genesis' record annual profit of $61 million this year, helped by power shortages and rising electricity prices, saying Genesis had had to spend $NZ140 million on coal and gas to produce high volumes of electricity last autumn, whereas hydro generators did not pay for the water they used.

Genesis had been criticised for not having enough coal stockpiled at its dual-fueled 1000MW Huntly power station, the company having to import coal from Queensland and Indonesia. However, Jackson said Genesis now had 620,000 tonnes of coal stockpiled.