Taranaki

The Alpha well in the Taranaki basin in New Zealand was the first oil well developed in the Commonwealth and among the first to be developed in the world. It had been well known that the area was rich in oil and gas as it had been reported as far back as 1865 that oil had been washing up on the Central Ngamotu beach at New Plymouth. Men walking the beach were forced to clean their boots and women had to lift their dresses to avoid damaging their clothing.

Taranaki oil and gas Fields get Going With the Development of the Kapuni Field
Despite this knowledge it was not until 1959 when an official oil and gas discovery was made regarding the Kapuni field. This was followed in 1969 with the announcement of the Maui discovery, one of the largest in the western world at that time. These major discoveries led to companies such as Shell becoming involved and suddenly New Zealand had been propelled into the modern gas and petroleum era. Gas and condensate reservoirs in the Taranaki Basin now provide a home for all of New Zealand's oil and gas production and provides employment opportunities for up to 90 percent of all people working in the country's oil and gas industry.

The oldest onshore gas and condensate field is the Kapuni field, an operation that led to the development of a reticulated gas network system being built throughout the New Zealand North Island. This infrastructure work, along with the skills developed, led the way to the discovery of the Maui field. Since that time other significant gas and condensate fields have been discovered within the Taranaki Basin, these being: Mangahewa in 1998, Pohokura in 2006, Tui in 2007, Cheal in 2008, Maari in 2009, Kupe in 2010 and Sidewinder in 2011.

There are 13 onshore and five offshoregas fields currently producing natural gas in the Taranaki Basin in New Zealand with the largest production coming from the offshore Maui and Pohokura fields as well as from the Kapuni field.

Methanex is the Biggest User of Taranaki Natural gas
Methanol producer Methanex is the biggest user of natural gas in New Zealand. Its other big users are in electricity generation, the production of urea and for fuel in the transportation industry. It is also widely used for residential and industrial purposes.
A considerable quantity of light crude oil is produced from the more recently discovered offshore Maari and Tui fields as well as from the older Pohokura field.

Although the New Zealand gas and oil industry is now quite well established at home, it still offers global investors an opportunity in ongoing exploration ventures in many, as yet, unexplored areas. The industry remains quite active and has achieved much in the way of having created a sophisticated reticulated network around the North Island, specialist port facilities and established storage facilities.

The Taranaki based industry support companies carry out projects throughout New Zealand and the wider world spreading the skills learned in the Taranaki gas and oil industry development projects.
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