By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 4 -- Origin Energy New Zealand Ltd. has begun commissioning the offshore Kupe field with initial production, moving natural gas and liquids ashore via pipeline to a gas processing plant at Hawera (see map, OGJ, July 16, 2001, p. 38).
Full start-up is likely within 2 months, said Andrew Stock, Origin’s executive general manager of major development projects.
Kupe gas project participants are Origin (50%, operator), a wholly owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Ltd.; Genesis Energy (31%); New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (15%); and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty. Ltd. (4%)
Paul Zealand, Origin executive general manager of upstream oil and gas, said once Kupe was in full operations, it would provide 10-15%/year of the country's gas demand for 15-20 years. Kupe will produce up to 90,000 tonnes/year of LPG, more than 50% of the country’s demand, he said.
Over the project life, Kupe is expected to provide 6.6 billion cu m of gas, 1.1 million tonnes of LPG, and 14.7 million bbl of light crude.