Document Actions
Pohokura wins sustainable development and innovation award
10 August 2010 - The Pohokura gas condensate project operated and owned by Shell Exploration, OMV NZ and Todd Energy has been awarded an Environmental Award by one of its regulators the Taranaki Regional Council.
Sources: Shell, Taranaki Regional Council and Lindsay Clark
The award was given to the Pohokura project for sustainable development and technical innovation recognising a number of particular features about the project.
“We are delighted to have won this award,” Rob Jager, chairman of Shell Companies in New Zealand, said on behalf of the Pohokura partners. He said the award belonged to all the Pohokura team, both past and present. “I thank them for their safety first approach, hard work and commitment.”
The Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) said that the design, development and operation of one of New Zealand's largest oil and gas resource had involved consultation with the local community and a commitment throughout the project to reducing the impact on the environment.
On of the features commended was the use of horizontal directional drilling to insert the development pipelines to the offshore field down underneath the cliff and foreshore. This enabled them to avoid excavation of the sensitive coastal environment.
The council also noted the collection and treatment of stormwater from the onshore production station via a natural bio-filter of wetland plants and ponds, which are constructed to remove any residual hydrocarbons. Riparian plantings have also been carried out extensively at the production station to protect and enhance water quality.
The production station and offshore platform are both unmanned and remotely operated. This reduced the impact on the environment. The use of energy saving variable-speed electric motors also reduces emissions from the site, the council said.
TRC says that “the awards are an opportunity to recognize some of these efforts and hold them up as an example and an inspiration.”
