Kupe pipeline welding base for Port of Marlborough

Operator of the $NZ980 million Kupe project Origin Energy said delivery of the first 12 metre long lengths of pipeline to spoolbase will to begin in the next few weeks to Picton. There the pipes will be welded by contractors McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd into the longer lengths for reeling onto the Apache pipelaying vessel for the pipelaying operation.

The Apache vessel is due to arrive in New Zealand in December and the pipelaying is expected to start in early 2008.

Kupe project director Peter Ashford said the Kupe gas project was pleased to be able to spread the benefits of the project to other regions of New Zealand.

“This collaboration will bring employment and economic benefits to the Marlborough region. At peak we expect to have 40 people involved in fabrication and 10 management staff working on this operation,” Mr Ashford said.

Meanwhile drilling of the project gas pipeline tunnels under the South Taranaki coastline has been successfully completed – breaking a world record for the length of horizontal directional drilling of a shore crossing.

The horizontal tunnels will link the gas pipeline from the platform to the Kupe production station onshore near Hawera. Two tunnels have been drilled – one to carry the main gas pipeline and another to house the umbilical cable.

Construction of these tunnels is the longest shore approach ever completed through horizontal directional drilling with “forward thrust” installation of the pipe.

The drilling has also been very accurate. Both the umbilical and main pipeline subsea exit points were within 6 metres of their target, 2.2 kilometres offshore.
Mr Ashford said these achievements were a credit to the project team in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the project’s drilling contractor Drilltec.

“A huge effort was put into the planning and execution of this part of the project which has paid off,” Mr Ashford said.

Origin Energy said in its March quarter report fabrication of the platform jacket in Thailand is near completion. However the jacket will not be shipped until its arrival can be coordinated with the availability of the Ensco 107 drilling rig which now is expected to arrive in September 2007. The jack-up rig will be used to install the jacket and then drill the development wells.

The Kupe project is expected to be completed by mid-2009 and produce the reserves of approximately 254 petajoules of natural gas, 1.1 million tonnes of LPG and 14.7 million barrels of condensate over around 8 – 10 years.

Kupe participants are Origin Energy 50%, Genesis Energy 31%, NZ Oil & Gas 15% and Mitsui E&P (NZ) Ltd.

Source: Origin Energy