Maui
The Maui field is located 35 kms off the Taranaki coastline. The field comprises two production platforms, Maui A and Maui B.
Field History
The Maui gas field was discovered in 1969 and was considered a monster field for its time. A joint venture consisting of Shell, BP and Todd Petroleum was responsible for the find.
Due to the size and cost of the development, government investment was sought which resulted in a government entity (later PetroCorp) taking a 50% interest in the project. Fletcher Challenge Energy later purchased this entity from the government.
Full production from Maui A began in 1979, with 14 wells drilled from the platform in a water depth of 110m (a deep water platform for its time).
Maui B was installed in 1992 to allow full drainage of hydrocarbons from the southern part of the field.
Oil was discovered in deeper reservoirs below the gas sands in 1993. The FPSO ((Floating Production Storage & Offloading) Whakaaropai was installed in 1996 and produced until decommissioning in 2006.
In 2001, Shell bought Fletcher Challenge Energy and farmed out 10% of Maui to OMV New Zealand Ltd. Todd has a 6.25% interest in the field.
Field Facilities
The field facilities are effectively split in five areas. These consist of:
The Maui B platform situated 15 km from the Maui A platform, in 103 m water depth. This platform is designed to be unmanned and remotely operated from Maui A. Maui B is connected to Maui A via an undersea pipeline through which gas and condensate are transported to Maui A for initial processing. A total of 12 wells have been drilled on Maui B.
The Maui A platform sits in 110 meters of water 35 kms off the Taranaki coast. Subsea condensate and gas pipelines connect Maui A to the shore based processing plant at Oaonui, where gas and condensate are processed after having gone through cooling and water separation plants on Maui A.
Maui Production Station onshore at Oaonui, where processing and treatment of gas occurs to bring it to pipeline specifications. Condensate is also treated and split into enhanced condensate and naphtha. LPG is removed and sold as either LPG mix or butane for export.
Paritutu Tank Farm is located at the port of New Plymouth. Processed condensate and associated products are stored here before shipping overseas or to the refinery at Marsden Point.
