Regulators seek independent advice on leaking oil and gas well

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File photo.
Photo: Beach Energy

WorkSafe is seeking independent advice about a leaking oil and gas well in the Kupe Field off the coast of Taranaki.

The Kupe South-2 well has been leaking a small amount of gas since 2018 – a fact that the Environmental Protection Authority only revealed when forced to by the Ombudsman.

The EPA and WorkSafe have been under fire from Climate Justice Taranaki for not insisting that Kupe operator Beach Energy stop the leak.

Now the director of another exploration company Kauri Oil and Gas has weighed in.

Mark Webster, who trained as a geologist, argued the leak was evidence of pressure imbalances in the field which could lead to oil and gas spewing into the Tasman Sea or trigger earthquakes which could endanger staff working on other platforms.

He believed the leak at the abandoned KS-2 was serious.

“If that makes its way up directly to the surface we could have an environmental disaster and if this mechanism is operating around Taranaki then it’s a potential hazard for fixed platforms with people involved, so there’s certainly both environmental and personnel safety issues.”

Webster believed extracting oil, gas and water from reservoirs changed pressure across fields which could cause earthquakes.

“Repeated seismic activity would weaken structures and I know at Maari we had a crack in a platform leg several years ago which was attributed to wave action but could in fact be the consequence of repeated earthquake activity – induced seismicity.”

Webster had previously pitched for work from the Kupe joint venture partners to do specialised testing in the field.

He believed there were potential reserves worth $75 billion that could still be unlocked.

But the joint venture had shown little interest in working with him.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said it continued to monitor the leak, but considered it a well-integrity problem and not an environmental one.

In a written response to RNZ, WorkSafe high hazards, energy and public safety head Darren Handforth said it was working with Beach Energy, which was currently gathering pressure data from the area as part of drilling for another exploration well.

He said his agency and the EPA were seeking independent technical advice because they wanted third-party assurance about the information the company had given them.

In a statement, Beach Energy said it welcomed any independent assessment and would continue to cooperate with both government agencies.

It said the leak was minuscule.

“The yearly discharge at KS2 is equivalent to one-eighteenth of a 9kg gas bottle, and our regular monitoring efforts have shown that there has not been any observable increase in the character, intensity or scale of the effects of this minor discharge.”

Beach Energy said it would continuously monitor the well until it was decommissioned with the rest of the field some time in the mid-2030s.

The company would not be drawn on its relationship with Mark Webster.