Austrian-based oil and gas company OMV has begun its first major offshore project since buying Shell’s New Zealand assets for US$578 million in December. A giant China Oilfield Services (COSL) operated BOSS jack-up rig pulled up alongside the Pohokura platform off the north Taranaki coast this morning for a three-month well-intervention and maintenance programme.

OMV’s senior vice-president Asia-Pacific Gabriel Selischi said in a statement, the project was designed to ensure that Pohokura’s wells were producing gas at optimal levels, according to radionz.co.nz.

“Pohokura has been producing gas for New Zealand since production began in 2006 – we want this to continue well into the future,” Mr Selischi said.

The entire Pohokura field, both offshore and onshore, contributed about 40 percent of the gas required for energy generation in New Zealand.

Mr Selischi said the Pohokura campaign included well intervention activity that would bring production from the offshore Pohokura Platform B back to almost 20 percent of New Zealand’s natural gas supply.

He said the project involved more than a dozen local contracting companies among a total workforce of around 270 (240 offshore and 30 onshore).