Arrival of large rig scheduled in Taranaki for offshore well maintenance

Monday, 14 January 2019

A comprehensive offshore oil and gas well maintenance programme is set to start off the North Taranaki coast in February.

The well intervention project is part of ongoing hydrocarbon reservoir maintenance to be undertaken by OMV New Zealand, which last month acquired the offshore wells from former operators Shell NZ as part of a multi-million dollar deal.

The interventions are required to ensure that the wells are producing optimally, an OMV NZ spokeswoman said.

'The work would include entering the wells using coiled tubing technology, installing plugs, perforating new zones, and flowing the returns back through a well test skid before flowing into the pipeline,' she said.

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'The Pohokura offshore intervention campaign was centred on existing offshore wells, and OMV were planning to open new producing zones and shut off zones which had watered out over time.'

The well interventions are not related to the Pohokura pipeline repair activities undertaken in 2018, she said.

The campaign would start after the COSL Boss jackup rig arrived in Admiralty Bay, near Marlborough Sounds in the first week of February.

The rig was being transported to New Zealand on the heavy lift vessel (HLV) Red Zed I.

It is currently on its way from Singapore and after offloading at Admiralty Bay the rig will be towed up the west coast of the North Island, subject to weather, to the Pohokura Platform B (PPB) location and installed over the platform, OMV said.

In a written statement OMV Australasia senior vice president Gabriel Selischi said,'The Pohokura intervention campaign is scheduled to commence in February and finish at the end of April.'

For safety reasons offshore production will be stopped for approximately 30 days in total, including 12 days in February during rig integration, and a further 18 days during the campaign.

'We anticipate that the onshore wells will be available to flow during this campaign with no impact on onshore production levels,' Selischi said.

'The exact duration and timing of the offshore shutdown periods will remain subject to operational and weather related impacts.

'The scheduled timing, duration and anticipated impact on gas availability from the offshore wells has been provided to customers, and we will regularly update customers as operations progress. 

Stakeholders have been advised of the campaign.

In December Royal Dutch Shell sold its shares in Shell entities in New Zealand to OMV for $846m (US$578m).

The sale included Shell NZ's Māui, Pohokura, and Tank Farm assets as well as Shell's interest in the Great South Basin venture, which was subject to a separate agreement.