Enterprise & Energy
Taranaki Community Update Issue 3, October 2013
One of the MET2 gas facility modules being unloaded from the BBC Carolina at Port Taranaki
In this issue MET2 update Activity update Traffic management update Mid-year community meeting In the community Staff profile - Dennis Mills
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In and around the community
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e’re pleased to advise that our Mangahewa expansion project is proceeding successfully, thanks in part to the mild winter weather Taranaki’s been enjoying. Soon we’ll be resuming pipelining operations, and drilling at our Mangahewa D site will get underway in February next year. By the time you receive this update, demobilisation of our C site drill will be close to complete, significantly reducing piloted loads through Tikorangi. We thank you for your forbearance over the past months.
public on 4 September. The clinic is the culmination of the hard work of the North Taranaki Healthcare Trust and was supported by Todd Energy as community founding partner. The need for a Waitara-based dentist has long been recognised and we’ve been very pleased to help make this a reality.
Of special interest to me this month was the opportunity to represent Todd at the annual celebration held at the Owae Marae in Waitara to honour the life and legacy of Sir Māui Pōmare. Sir Over the past quarter we’ve been Māui was the first Māori doctor, the first proud to host a number of neighbours, Māori Cabinet Minister, and Member residents, community groups, councillors of Parliament for Western Māori for and other visitors at Mangahewa C site. 19 years. He was widely known for his work in improving Māori health and Among these were the Parliamentary living standards and also played a Commissioner for the Environment’s significant role in Samoa’s independence principal science advisor, Dr Grant movement (see p.4 story). Blackwell and his colleague Dr Karen Lavin. Todd is currently preparing I enjoyed attending this special Taranaki a paper to contribute to the celebration, honouring both our Maori Commissioner’s work on the regulatory and Samoan communities, and was regime governing oil and gas operations reminded of how important it is to in New Zealand. As well as looking understand the history of our region – closely at our technology, Dr Blackwell and the events that shaped it – just as was interested in our community history shapes who Todd Energy is today engagement programme, including as well. traffic and noise management and our relationships with local schools, neighbours and farmers. Janet Carson On another aspect of our community Manager involvement, we were delighted to see Communications Waitara Dental open its doors to the Todd Energy
MET2 update
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odd’s Mangahewa Expansion Train 2 (MET2), located behind the McKee Production Station (pictured to the right), is part of the overall Mangahewa expansion project. This involves an $800 million investment over a seven year period, designed to enable us to significantly increase natural gas production from the Mangahewa field. The expansion train is the new facility which will process the additional natural gas being produced from the field. The modules for MET2 were built in Canada and shipped to Port Taranaki for assembly on site (see p.1 photo). The modules were then transported to the site by road. Traffic management measures to cover the seven-week period, including spreading the work over bigger and fewer loads, were discussed at our recent community forum (see p3). Bussing arrangements
for workers have also been made to help mitigate traffic noise generated at 6.30am as workers on the MET2 project arrive at the McKee plant. Construction activity currently involves about 110 people on site, but this will phase down after December. We’re pleased to advise that construction is right on schedule for the project. All modules have been safely delivered and they are now either on site or at a local workshop. We have therefore closed the port receiving area we were using to store parts. The MET2 project team has also demonstrated an excellent health and safety performance over the project to date. With construction nearing 80 percent completion, and after over 110,000 work hours being spent onsite, there have been no recordable injuries over this period.
Activity summary Mangahewa C •
Drilling will demobilise in early October
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The next round of well testing will commence midOctober
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Infrastructure construction for well site facilities will commence in November
Mangahewa E •
Site preparation for start of drilling in May 2014
Mangahewa D •
Construction activities are underway for well site facilities
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Construction is expected to conclude at end of November
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Drilling is scheduled to begin in February 2014
MET2 •
Ongoing construction activities will continue until December
Pipeline construction •
Pipeline construction has restarted, with completion expected end of January 2014
toddenergy.co.nz MET2 located behind Mckee Production Station, September
Mid-year community meeting
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round 40 members of the community attended the latest Todd Energy Tikorangi community meeting held on 23 July at the Clifton Rugby Club rooms. Our GM Operations, Andrew Clennett, and GM Development & Project Services, Winfred Boeren, provided an update on the MET2 project and progress reports on drilling, mitigation projects, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s inquiry into hydraulic fracturing. The main topics of discussion were: •
Traffic and road safety - issues around the MET2 project (see p.2)
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Other road-related issues - traffic travelling faster than the 50km/h limit in Princess St, near SH 3. Andrew advised Todd would do its best to trace offenders, and use its daily briefings to remind staff of the speed restriction.
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Earthquake drills - in the wake of the 21 July tremors, Andrew was able to provide assurance that the McKee facility is designed to withstand seismic activity, and that inspections had been carried since the quake. McKee’s fail-safe system will, in the event of a major seismic event, activate the shutdown of the plant.
The next Tikorangi community meeting is scheduled for December 2013.
Traffic management update This report is a follow-up to the traffic management update in our July issue, which advised that Todd was meeting with residents and the New Plymouth District Council to discuss solutions.
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he main views expressed in these meetings were around minimising traffic passing Tikorangi school and identifying alternative routes to avoid cumulative traffic volumes. Changes already underway are helping address these concerns. For example, requiring our staff and contractors to carpool or use our shuttle bus service have reduced our light vehicle movements to and from Mangahewa C by 30 percent over the last six months. In addition, heavy vehicles are not permitted to travel along Otaraoa Road at school bus times, and signs have been put up in various roadside locations to advise traffic of the presence of heavy vehicles and also set out the school bus time restrictions. These changes support the traffic management plan we’re developing to cover the ongoing operation of the Mangahewa C
2013
site and the new operations at the proposed Mangahewa E site. To assist with this we’ve engaged the Traffic Design Group (TDG), New Zealand’s largest specialist transportation engineering consultancy. Some of TDG’s proposed improvements include: •
sealing the road surface where heavy vehicles wait on Inland North Road
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review of the existing speed limit along Otaraoa Road
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extending the speed limit of 70km/h along Inland North Road to the east past the intersection with Otaraoa Road, and
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improving the turn off from SH3 onto Princess Street in the short term (12-18 months) by introducing right-turn bays on SH3. In the longer term (3-5 years), the NZTA plans to construct a roundabout.
The plan will be finalised shortly and made available via toddenergy.co.nz, and neighbours will be directly advised.
In the community Bonds of friendship A highlight of this year’s Māui Pōmare Day was the presentation of a research paper on the significant role Sir Māui played in supporting Samoa’s Mau movement that led to its eventual independence in 1962. As well as standing up for Samoa in parliament against his own government and prime minister (Coates), Sir Māui forged a close, supportive personal relationship with Samoan independence and resistance leader Ta’isi Nelson.
Staff profile Keeping people safe Dennis Mills, Support Team Assistant, McKee Production Station Stratford-born Dennis Mills, known as Millsy, has worked at McKee for 25 years. He was previously an operator technician before taking on his current role of Support Team Assistant. The role has a wide scope - Dennis continues to undertake work in the operations field but is also responsible for procedures for inspecting, repairing or replacing kit (plant machinery, pipework or equipment). “Among other things, it’s my job to make sure any equipment being worked on, for example any kit that is to be repaired or inspected, is safely isolated from the rest of the plant before that work begins. Keeping people safe takes a lot of care and effort.
Ta’isi was represented at Owae Marae by the Samoan Head of State and Ta’isi’s grandson, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi (pictured at Māui Pōmare Day.)
Manukorihi Golf Club sponsorship Todd is a supporter of the Manukorihi Golf Club and has provided funding towards the club’s running costs over the year. The club is located on Wills Road, Tikorangi and many of our neighbours and partners are members. As well as being pleased to contribute to a community amenity, we also appreciate having access to the club for Todd meetings and events. Our monthly community forums are currently being held there.
“It’s become a very full and busy role since Todd Energy took over around 10 years ago, and with the expansion taking place out here now. My job started off as a one person role, now we have a second technician as well. I do get a lot of satisfaction from my work, and I don’t think there’s been a day since I started in 1989 that I haven’t wanted to come to work.” Dennis has seen a lot of changes during his time at McKee. “It’s compulsory to have your arms, legs and body fully covered and high visibility gear worn on site, but back in 1990 that wasn’t the case. The gear requirements are now where they should be and are strictly enforced, which is a good thing,” he says. In his leisure time, Dennis thoroughly enjoys life in Urenui. “It’s paradise for us. I used to play basketball in my youth, but these days I play golf and fish – not long ago I caught a 15lb snapper but I’m still hoping for that elusive 20 pounder.”
WOMAD partnership renewed In early September Todd Energy renewed its partnership with WOMAD, and next year’s event will mark our 10th year as a major partner. Our focus with the partnership next year is to build on our community programme in North Taranaki and continue to develop our special relationship with Tikorangi School. We created a short video clip this year on WOMAD and the Bassekou Kouyaté performance and workshop at Tikorangi School. If you would like to view it, please visit our community noticeboard at toddenergy.co.nz. Our thanks to Tikorangi School for allowing us to film. All care has been taken to ensure this information is correct at the time of publication.
Tikorangi School students dancing to Bassekou Kouyaté performance.