STOS general manager Paul Zealand says recent design work has shown a single offshore platform, 8km off the Motunui coast, rather than the multiple platforms earlier envisaged, plus the onshore wells to access the southern portion of the field, will have the ability to develop the resource.

Six wells, drilled by a jack-up rig tied to the unmanned platform, plus a 12-inch gas pipeline to shore, should suffice. The first of three onshore wells will be drilled early next year with a large rig that STOS will bring in from overseas.

Other parts of the project include an onshore processing plant at Motunui; a gas export pipeline tied in to the Maui pipeline at Bertrand Road, Waitara; and a 34km condensate pipeline to Port Taranaki for the export of liquids.

Earlier this month the Pohokura partners - Shell NZ, Todd Energy and OMV - signed off the final investment decision for the project, with Shell NZ EP commercial manager Ajit Bansal saying Pohokura needed to be developed in a timely manner.

STOS has received tenders for the larger construction contracts, and onshore-offshore drilling facilities, with an announcement of the successful tenderers expected this September.

Zealand said activity at the various work sites, particularly at the onshore production station, would increase early next year as onshore construction and drilling started.

Onshore pipeline construction was scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2005, with offshore activity commencing in the third quarter and continuing until first gas in mid-2006.

STOS would lodge an application for a Pohokura petroleum mining permit with Crown Minerals in the next week or so.