Kapuni Production Station operated by Shell Todd Oil Services.
Kapuni
In the 1950s technological advances in seismic profiling and deep rotary drilling opened up the opportunity for large-scale exploration throughout the onshore Taranaki basin, which resulted in the 1959 discovery of the Kapuni gas/condensate field by a consortium consisting of Shell, BP and Todd Energy.
Full commercial production began in 1969, and the field is serviced by 16 wells on 9 sites, which pipe gas and condensate to the central Kapuni Production Station, operated 24/7 by Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS). The field is second in original size to the 4,000PJ offshore Maui gas/condensate field (discovered in 1969 and in production from 1979), with gas located 3,400-3,800m beneath the surface.
The Government considered the Kapuni gas reserves, then assessed at 350PJ, sufficient to invest in the North Island gas transmission network, and to foster natural gas reticulation within all connected urban centres. The discovery also paved the way for the significant investment in and development of Taranaki’s energy infrastructure.