How Todd Energy took on Kapuni, replaced a spreadsheet operation, and exceeded production expectations.
Todd Energy produces around a third of New Zealand’s natural gas from onshore fields in Taranaki, contributing more than 20% of New Zealand’s primary energy supply. When they took direct operational control of their oldest producing field, they had no production management or allocation system in place.
They needed one, fast.
The operation.
Todd Energy is a subsidiary of Todd Corporation and one of New Zealand’s largest natural gas producers. Their principal operating assets are the Kapuni field, the country’s oldest producing gas field with 12 wells, and the McKee Mangahewa field, with 20 producing wells across nine well sites. Together, these assets make Todd Energy responsible for a significant share of New Zealand’s domestic gas supply.
Challenge: a new operator with no systems, and a tight deadline
Kapuni had previously been operated by Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS). When the asset transitioned to Todd Energy’s direct operation, Todd had no production management or allocation systems of their own. Everything needed to be built from scratch, and the transition timeline demanded a deployment of under six months.
At the same time, the McKee Mangahewa asset was running on a collection of spreadsheets and Access databases. Managing two assets on entirely different systems, with no consistent way of working across the portfolio, wasn’t sustainable.
Todd needed a single platform that could be deployed quickly for Kapuni and then extended to harmonise both assets under one consistent production management framework.
Solution: deployed for Kapuni in under six months, extended across both assets within a year
Todd selected EnergySys and worked with reseller partner Elite Energy on the implementation.
The Kapuni deployment was completed within the six-month transition window. From there, Elite’s recommendation to implement a Production Management Framework across both assets was accepted, and the full scope was delivered within a year.
The platform replaced the spreadsheets and Access databases on the McKee Mangahewa asset and brought both operations onto a consistent set of working practices covering production planning and forecasting, nominations, production allocation, and deferment and loss accounting.
The delivery approach was incremental, using starter applications that supported gradual improvement and calibration of business processes as the Todd team learned to use the system and the data it provided.
Outcomes: optimisation without drilling, and production well beyond expectations
Todd entered this programme with a specific goal: to counter an expected 30% decline in reservoir performance through optimisation, without drilling.
The result significantly exceeded that target. With the production management framework in place, Todd achieved more than 40% production over previous expectations.
Beyond the production outcome, the platform gave Todd’s team reduced operational risk, improved safety, and the ability to identify and act on value-adding opportunities with the data and tools to support timely decisions.
The bottom line.
Todd Energy took on one of New Zealand’s oldest gas fields with no production management system, a six-month window, and a goal of holding production without new drilling.
They deployed EnergySys on time, extended it across both assets, and ended up well ahead of where they needed to be.
