First Kupe crude to Aussie next week; OMV stalls on GSB

Friday 15th January 2010

The first shipment of crude oil from the long-awaited Kupe oil and gas field heads for the Kwinana refinery in Australia from Port Taranaki next week, local partner in the field, New Zealand Oil & Gas announced today.

Natural gas, crude oil and LPG have been flowing from the field since wells opened in December, 23 years after the offshore Taranaki field was first discovered.

The initial 120,000-180,000 barrel shipment is contracted to BP and bound for the Kwinana Refinery in Australia. Over the next 15-20 years, Kupe is expected to provide approximately 254 petajoules or 10 to 15% of the country's natural gas needs, 1.1 million tonnes or more than half the country's LPG requirements, and 14.7 million barrels of light crude oil.

Kupe participants are field operator Origin Energy (50%), Genesis Energy (31%), NZOG (15%) and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd (4%).

Meanwhile, the Austrian petroleum mining company and Maui field partner, OMV, has signalled a go-slow on its prospects in the Great South Basin, announcing yesterday a one year extension to the timeline for drilling decisions on its three exploration permits in the vast ocean area south of Bluff. The deadline has been extended to July 2011.

In the meantime, the OMV-led partnership was undertaking a second round of seismic surveys to acquire an additional 2,600 km of 2D data following the most extensive 2D seismic survey undertaken in New Zealand in the permits in 2007/08.

"This programme is expected to last approximately four weeks, subject to weather conditions," the company said in a statement.

Partners in the consortium are OMV and PTTEP New Zealand Ltd, with 36% each, and Mitsui E&P, which holds the remaining 28%.

Businesswire.co.nz

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