The contractors that constructed the production station have formally handed over the project to operator Shell Exploration New Zealand, which is using Maui gas from the nearby Oaonui-Huntly Maui pipeline for commissioning the Pohokura plant.

Commissioning is anticipated to be completed by mid to late September, when Pohokura gas from the three deviated production wells drilled from onshore last year will start flowing to customers, including major downstream players Contact Energy and Genesis Energy, for use in their gas-fired power stations.

As well, the jack-up Ensco Rig 56 has offloaded the 415-tonne Pohokura jacket and the 155t topsides module from the heavy-lift vessel Annegret.

The German-owned Annegret, which was prevented from leaving New Plymouth port in June because of overdue port fees that it later paid, left Port Taranaki this morning for Pusan, South Korea, where the vessel is scheduled to pick up oil and gas equipment for a Gulf of Mexico project.

Rig 56 is now securing the jacket to the seabed about 8km off Motunui before lifting the topsides module, which is presently sitting on the rig’s derrick floor, onto the legs and welding the topsides in place.

Then, after the conductors and risers have been installed, the rig is scheduled to start drilling the six offshore development wells. These wells are scheduled to later feed gas via a single pipeline to the onshore production station for processing.

This progress signals the end of the problems that plagued the start of the offshore phase of the Pohokura project, including seafloor instability that forced the Ensco rig to relocate to a new drill site and some wild winter weather.

The 750 petajoule Pohokura gas field is New Zealand’s largest undeveloped gas field and will partially compensate for the dwindling Maui field further south off Taranaki.