Seabed coring will be undertaken in the next few weeks to allow detailed design of the production platform foundations. The production platform will be best placed to access production not only from already established reserves of gas and oil, but also from potentially productive areas both north and south of the platform.

Kupe is New Zealand's second largest undeveloped petroleum resource after the possible 1 tcf Pohokura field further north. Kupe's recoverable reserves are estimated to be about 260 Petajoules of gas and 16 million barrels of oil.