The Taranaki Daily News quotes Origin's regulatory and environment manager Mark Rogers as saying the unmanned offshore platform is to be installed in 35m of water 30km south of Ohawe, near Hawera, supporting up to six production wells.
A single subsea pipeline is to deliver the raw gas stream to shore where Origin and its Kupe partners have purchased 14.5 hectares of land where a new production station may be built.
The Kupe joint venture is negotiating with the operators of several nearby production stations regarding processing Kupe products, but if these talks are unsuccessful, then the ‘green field' facility will be constructed.
Origin is also holding talks with NGC over rights to export processed gas to the Kapuni gas treatment station further to the north.
Total capital investment for the project will be NZ$300-400 million, with up to NZ$200 million spent within New Zealand; the peak construction workforce around 850, with up to 50 fulltime operations staff. Annual operational costs will be around NZ$20 million from 2007 when first gas is scheduled ashore for main customer (and Kupe partner) Genesis Energy.
Meanwhile, Bridge Petroleum has released more test results from its strategic onshore Taranaki Radnor-1 well that offers Methanex a possible lifeline for its New Zealand methanol operations.
Last month Bridge executive director Kevin Johnson said Bridge and US-based partner Westech were confident Radnor would prove commercial albeit with only initial flow rate data available - 4 mmscf/d of gas through ¼ inch choke.
Now he has confirmed plans for a small processing station to be built to handle commercial production from the first quarter of 2005. “We are busy working on the design of the production station, as well as having technical people working on possible recoverable reserves figures,” Johnson told EnergyReview.Net from Auckland.
Bridge has now completed testing at Radnor-1, with the well flowing 6.705 mmscf/d of gas and 360 barrels of associated condensate on a 20/64 inch choke, at a stable flowing tubing pressure of 2,752 psi with no produced water.
Commentators say the PEP 38752 licence and particularly the Radnor wells should prove very interesting, given the fact a pipeline to the Methanex plants runs right nearby. They say Radnor could provide 8-12 Petajoules of gas a year to help Methanex, which has priority entitlements to Radnor gas, keep one of its three Taranaki methanol trains operating next year and beyond.
