Spectacular gas flare well site lights up night sky

Thursday, 8 February 2018

A spectacular gas flare at the Pohokura A production station in North Taranaki has been mistaken by residents for a large fire.

The flare was caused by staff releasing gas in the pipeline after the on shore production station was shut down due to a fault. 

New Plymouth Fire Station fielded numerous calls around 1.30am on Tuesday from many people concerned a major blaze had broken out, senior station officer Nick Burke said.

Burke said two fire appliances were sent to Motunui, 22km north of New Plymouth, after the station received 'multiple calls' from people who believed a large fire had started.

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The crews were stood down when it was established the 'fire' was instead a gas flare, he said.

'We just want to assure people the flaring, which looks pretty impressive, is not a fire.'

A spokeswoman from Shell, which operated the Pohokura natural gas field, said a fault was detected at the onshore Pohokura production station around 12.45am on Tuesday.

The production station shut down safely and depressurised when the fault was detected in the control system, she said.

'The operations team completed a full system check and identified the fault, and confirmed that the plant was safe to restart.'

The facility was made safe and neighbours were advised, she said.

Production resumed in the morning and the production station was flowing as normal.

The Pohokura well site is operated by Shell Exploration New Zealand and is located about 8km offshore from Motunui.

It is one of the largest gas condensate fields in New Zealand and contributed to about 40 per cent of the country's natural gas supply.

Production came on line in 2006.

In April a huge flare off from the Oaonui gas production station, near Opunake, alarmed nearby residents who called the fire service after they described the sky turning 'orange.'

Fire brigades from Opunake, Rahotu and Kaponga were dispatched to investigate, but were later stood down.