Rimu, Kauri and Manutahi Fields (RKM), New Zealand

Shari Highfield

Rimu, Kauri and Manutahi Fields (RKM), New Zealand

In New Zealand, Westside has owned and operated the RKM oil and gas fields since 2016. It has a range of assets including 13 well pads with 39 wells, oil and gas processing facilities and power generation on-site. The wells produce light oil, gas and condensate from Rimu and Kauri, and heavy oil from the Manutahi field.

It acquired RKM from Origin Energy Resources NZ (Rimu) Ltd in 2016 and commenced operations of the facility and associated assets under a safety case regime, authorised by the New Zealand Government.

The original Rimu production facility was commissioned in 2002 and the Kauri and Manutahi assets later in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

Alongside its own workforce, Westside brought on experienced operators from Origin to support site activity. It has successfully operated the plant and field since its purchase.

It has production capability for gas sales to the national grid; propane, butane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trucked into the local market; oil and condensate for export via the Omata tank farm to South East Asia and gas-generated electricity for sale to the national electricity grid from onsite power generation (2 x 640KW generators).

The production facility has a nameplate capacity of 8,000 boe/d and 10 mmscf/d and expandable to 20mmcfd.

The fields have produced more than 1.58 million bbls of crude and 10.9BCF of gas to date. Westside is pursuing expansion, including the redevelopment of the Kauri gas and Rimu light oil fields, further development of Manutahi oil field and associated exploration targets across all the RKM areas.