The project

From reservoir to New Zealanders

The oil and gas produced from Kupe begins its journey from the Kupe reservoir, 3km below the seabed and 30 km off the South Taranaki Coastline. The fluids rise to the surface through three production wells to Kupe's offshore platform. At peak, the gas produced from the Kupe field will meet about 15 per cent of New Zealand’s annual gas demand and 50 per cent of New Zealand's Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) demand.

At the offshore platform, small amounts of chemicals are added to the fluids to control corrosion and flow, before the fluids are piped ashore along a subsea pipeline.

On shore, the Kupe production station processes all of the fluids to produce natural gas that meets the requirements of New Zealand's national grid, as well as light crude and LPG.

From there, natural gas is transported in Kupe's sales gas pipeline from the production station to Kapuni, where it feeds into the North Island gas transmission system.

The LPG is taken from the production station by road tankers to be sold to buyers around New Zealand.

The light crude oil is trucked from the production station to the project’s tank farm on the western edge of New Plymouth, and stored there until it is ready to be pumped to the port and loaded onto tanker ships for export.

Geological features of the Kupe field

The Kupe field is about 5 km long and 3 km wide, situated about 3km beneath the seabed and 30km off the coast of South Taranaki.

The field consists of gas and liquid hydrocarbon reserves in a sandstone reservoir.. The sandstone layer is 400-500m thick and is covered by a 300m thick layer of impermeable claystone, which forms a secure seal to trap the hydrocarbons.

Within the reservoir, gravity has naturally separated the hydrocarbons and water creating a 200m layer of gas, sitting on top of a 20m layer of oil with the water below.

Joint venture

Origin Energy is the operator of the Kupe Gas Project. The New Zealand Petroleum Mining License (PML) 38146 is held by a Joint Venture of: