Maui Shutdown Advice

Maui Shutdown Advice

The Maui Joint Venture advises that the Maui A Platform has again shut down as a result of what appears to have been a false sensor reading in the Fire and Gas Detection System.

This is the third time in a week that Maui has undergone an emergency shutdown.

The Fire and Gas Detection System is integral to the operation of the Maui A platform and when it is triggered, and Emergency Shutdown procedure (ESD) is initiated as a matter of course. This resulted in gas supply from the platform ceasing at around 5.15am this morning.

Once an ESD occurs it is necessary to bring the entire Maui Platform back up to operational status before gas production can resume. This is an extended procedure and in particular involves re-powering the platform facilities using electricity generators based on the Maui platform.

The platform does have redundant power generation supplies. However, these generators were still under repair as a result of damage suffered by the two earlier shutdowns.

Following last weeks events an auxiliary power supply generator was mobilised to Maui A on the weekend and commissioning is expected to be complete by mid afternoon today.

In addition a back up team has been mobilised to Maui A to expedite repair of the damaged turbines and generation systems, together with representatives form the turbine manufacturer.

The Maui Joint Venture stressed that the root cause of these outages is the result of activation of the ESD, consequent upon signals from the Fire and Gas Detection System, which have proved to be false alarms.

The MJV are working to rectify the problem as soon as possible and we are working with gas users who have activated the contingency response plan, which is put into effect each time Maui shuts down.

The MJV will keep parties informed of progress throughout the day.

The MJV concists of Shell New Zealand (77.5%), Todd Petroleum Mining (12.5%) and OMV (10%).

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