The Maui field is located 35 kms off the Taranaki coastline. The field comprises two production platforms, Maui A and Maui B and, until April 2006, the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) vessel Whakaaropai.

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 field and later to allow production of oil from the deeper reservoirs.

The final phases consisted of installation of the Whakaaropai FPSO in 1996 and onshore naphtha refining plant in 1999.

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 A platform which 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 while LPG's and associated gases are removed for further processing and sale. A naphtha plant also operates to remove the naphtha component from condensate for sale in Asia.

The Maui B platform situated 15 km from the Maui. A platform, in similar water depth. This platform is designed to be unmanned and remotely operated from Maui A. Maui B was originally installed to allow full drainage of hydrocarbons from the field, however has since proved invaluable in the recovery of oil from the deeper reservoirs underneath Maui B. Maui B is connected to Maui A via an undersea pipeline through which gas and condensate are transported to Maui A for initial processing. Oil is fed directly to the FPSO Whakaaropai for storage and processing. A total of 10 wells have been drilled on Maui B.

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.

The Whakaaropai FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) vessel was moored 2 kms from the Maui B platform and linked to the platform by an oil pipeline and a gas export return pipeline. It was released in mid 2006, sold and is no longer in service.