Technip Preferred Lead Contractor for Whole Kupe Project

The French-headquartered oil industry engineering and construction company Technip has been awarded ‘preferred contractor’ status for the Kupe gas project’s offshore construction as well as the onshore component.

Australian-based Origin Energy Resources (Kupe) Ltd, operator of the offshore south Taranaki Kupe gas and condensate field, announced that has awarded ‘preferred contractor’ status to the Perth and Kuala Lumpur-based subsidiary Technip Oceania Pty Ltd for the offshore part of the project.

In April Origin announced Technip Oceania was preferred tenderer for the construction of the onshore production station near Hawera and other onshore infrastructure.

The offshore component of the project involves the design, construction and commissioning of the offshore platform, the pipeline and umbilical connecting the platform to the production station onshore and supervising the horizontal directionally drilled (HDD) shore crossing under the cliffs and beach.

Origin said that a final investment decision is due by mid year. If Technip is awarded both the on- and off-shore contract components, the two companies will form a joint implementation team — called an alliance team.

The team would be led by senior executives from Origin and Technip and resourced by personnel from both companies.

“Using the same contractor for both the on- and off-shore components of the project, and managing the construction under an alliance agreement, offers enormous advantages to the project,” said Origin’s executive general manager for major development projects, Andrew Stock.

“This arrangement will assist the identification and realisation of synergies between the work programmes for each component of the project, resulting in cost and logistic efficiencies. It will lead to more effective execution of the project,” Mr Stock said.

“We believe having the project owners and the lead contractor working as one team, with shared objectives and shared risk/reward arrangements, is the best way of managing the currently-challenging and competitive oil and gas construction market,” he said.

Technip is one of the world’s largest project management and construction companies with a workforce of more than 21,000 people. The company has a fleet of specialised vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction.

Interest-holders in the Kupe mining permit are: Origin 50%, Genesis Energy 31%, New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd 15%, and Mitsui E&P New Zealand Ltd 4%.

Origin Energy’s exploration portfolio in New Zealand includes acreage in the Taranaki, Northland and Canterbury Basins.

Source: Origin Energy press release.