Maui

The extraction of condensate and gas products from the Maui gas and condensate field, which covers an area of 157 square kilometres 40 kilometres off the coast of Taranaki, at the top of the South island of New Zealand, began in 1979 with the completion of the Maui A platform. When in full production the condensate and gas feeding through the Maui A infrastructure, that is fixed to the sea bed 110 metres from the surface, was being drawn from 14 wells that had been drilled up to 3,000 metres below the sea floor. The Maui operation continues over 24 hours every day of the year.

Maui Offshore Platform Connected to an Onshore Production Plant via an Undersea Pipeline
The Maui A offshore platform is connected to the onshore Maui Production Plant at Oaonui via a 20 inch stainless steel pipeline. The Oaonui based production station processes and treats the gas to bring it up to pipeline specifications, The condensate is also treated at the same production plant where associated gases and LPG are separated for further processing before being sold. The Maui oil field was one of the largest in the world at the time and it took 10 years to bring it to the production stage.

Maui Platform Specifically Built to Withstand Wild Weather
The Maui platform was constructed specifically to withstand the severe New Zealand weather conditions by Nippon Kokan Kabushiki (NKK), one of Japan's largest steelmakers. The tower was constructed in the company's Tsu shipyard in Japan and when completed had to be transported over 8,400 kilometres of the Pacific Ocean to where it is now located 35 kilometres off the coast of Taranaki in New Zealand.
The Maui A platform was built to withstand winds of 163 knots and ocean waves of over 23 metres as well as ocean currents of 3.4 knots and earthquakes of 8.5 on the Richter scale. To achieve this the platform is anchored to legs driven between 70 and 80 metres into the sea bed.

Maui B platform Installed in 1992, 15 Kilometres From Maui A
In 1992 the Maui B platform was installed 15 kilometres from the Maui A construction. The Maui B platform was built to facilitate drainage of hydrocarbons from the Maui field and to handle the production of oil from the deeper reservoir. The Maui B platform is un-manned and is remotely operated from the Maui A platform. A further 12 wells were drilled to serve the Maui B platform.

The two platforms are sutuated in Golden Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand and are connected through an underwater pipeline that carries the gas and condensate. Oil was fed into the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel 'Whakaaropai' that was installed in 1996 for storage and processing. The Whakaaropai was decommissioned in 2006.

The 20,000 tonnes Maui platform can house up to 71 personnel in sleeping accommodation, although the usual number using this facility at any one time rarely exceeds 40 to 45 people. The workers work on a shift basis of 12 hours on and 12 hours off over a period of two weeks at a time before they are awarded two weeks off. The Maui platform also converts sea water to fresh water at a rate of 40 tonnes of water each day.
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