Kupe is a gas and light oil/condensate field that lies in the offshore Taranaki basin, New Zealand, approximately 30km off the coast in water depth of about 35m. Production from the field commenced on 4 December 2009.
Kupe Progress:
On 4 December 2009 the first gas and liquids were piped ashore from the offshore Kupe field to the processing plant near Hawera.
The Kupe production system is being bedded down through a commissioning period. There will be production of sales gas, LPG and light oil during the commissioning period with full steady state production expected to be achieved in the next couple of months.
The Kupe joint venture partners are:
New Zealand Oil & Gas Limited* 15%- Origin Energy - 50% (Operator)
- Genesis Energy* 31%
- Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Limited 4%
*via subsidiaries
Origin Energy is the Operator of Kupe, on behalf of the Joint Venture.
Kupe Map [99kB]
The Development
The Kupe project has developed the Kupe Central Field Area (CFA), within PML 38146. The initial development comprises three wellheads, a normally unmanned offshore platform, a 30 km pipeline to shore, an onshore production station near Hawera, and oil storage facilities at New Plymouth.
The onshore production station, 12 km west of Hawera, processes the raw gas to meet the specification for the main North Island gas transmission system and separates out the light oil/condensate and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). The condensate is transported to Port Taranaki (New Plymouth) for export, while the LPG is sold into the domestic New Zealand market.
The Investment Decision was made in June 2006 based on a budget of NZ$980 million. The project has expanded in scope and has not been immune from international industry cost pressures. The expected final development costs have risen by around 30%.
NZOG’s share of the development is approximately NZ$195-$200m.
Reserves
At the time of the investment decision in June 2006, recoverable 2P (Proven and Probable) reserves for the Kupe CFA were estimated to be:
- 254 petajoules of sales gas (NZOG’s share 38PJ)
- 14.7 million barrels of light oil/condensate (NZOG 2.2 mmbbls)
- 1.1 million tonnes of LPG (NZOG 159,000 tonnes)
Production
NZOG has entered into a long-term gas sales agreement with Genesis Energy for its share of Kupe gas. Genesis Energy is a state owned electricity generator and retailer, and gas wholesaler and retailer, and a 31 per cent partner in the Kupe project.
NZOG has entered into a long-term sales agreement with Vector Ltd for its share of Kupe LPG. Vector is a publicly listed gas and electricity network company.
NZOG's share of the Kupe light oil/condensate will be exported.
History
The Kupe central field was discovered by NZOG in 1986 with the drilling of the Kupe South-1 exploration well. Read more »
History
The Kupe South-1 well (KS-1) drilled in 1986 flowed 2000 bopd and 5.4 mmscfgd. This discovery well was followed by the drilling of the Kupe South-2 (KS-2) well in 1987, and the Kupe South-3 wells and 3a sidetrack (KS-3), drilled in 1988.
The KS-2 and the KS-3 both encountered a stratified hydrocarbon reservoir with a significant oil column underlying a thick natural gas column. These three wells formed the basis for the Kupe Central Field Area (CFA) development, proposed in a 1999 FEED engineering development study. However, the development remained sub-economic because oil prices were low and New Zealand gas prices were very low as a result of the existing arrangements for the sale of gas from the large Maui field.
This situation changed as the Maui field entered into its decline phase and international oil prices increased. The Final Investment Decision for the development project was made on 29 June 2006.
Geology
The primary reservoir of the Central Field Area is the Paleocene Farewell Formation. Read more »
Geology
The Farewell Formation sandstone reservoirs are interpreted as being deposited in dominantly interbedded fluvial (river) and lacustrine (lake) sandstones.
The reservoir sandstones of the Farewell Formation are predominantly medium to coarse grained quartz and feldspar, with good porosities and permeabilities, ranging to over 1 d'arcy permeability in places. The sandstone members are compositionally immature and feldspar-rich, making them an arkosic to subarkosic sandstone reservoir.
After deposition and burial by overlying shales, the sandstone reservoir and shale seal in the Kupe field area were inverted (i.e. uplifted), and bounded by faults acting as lateral seals.
The hydrocarbons in the field were derived from Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, organic-rich, sedimentary source rocks which were thermally cooked in the basin kitchen areas after deep burial, and then migrated updip into the shallower sandstone units within the structural traps.
Kupe central field [65kB]
Kupe Schematic [787kB]
