PEPANZ congratulates Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Award Winners

Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) Chief Executive Cameron Madgwick today congratulated the 15 winners of last night’s Taranaki Regional Council Environment Awards.

“The annual awards recognise leadership in environmental stewardship and sustainable development in Taranaki,” says Mr Madgwick.

“It was particularly pleasing to see two PEPANZ Members, Todd Energy and Shell New Zealand, recognised for their efforts to minimise the impact on the environment from two recent projects, with both winning awards in the Environmental Leadership in Business category.

“Integral to being part of the community is environmental stewardship and it’s an honour for the industry to have their commitment to sustainability recognised by the community it lives and works in.

Todd Energy were recognised for their innovative wellsite design and construction methods to effectively control and treat stormwater at the Mangahewa-G wellsite.

“During the construction of the Mangahewa-G wellsite near Tikorangi, Todd set new industry benchmarks in their development of a large silt and sediment retention system to control and reduce the concentration of contaminants in stormwater and to minimise the effects of offsite discharges,” says Mr Madgwick.

Shell New Zealand were recognised for using innovative technology to protect the marine environment by avoiding discharges during the refurbishment of the Pohokura offshore platform.

“During the refurbishment more than 100 workers were housed temporarily on a rig beside the platform as they painted the entire structure and overhauled equipment and wells. In the project, Shell took a Goal Zero approach: To cause no harm to people, to protect the environment, and minimise the impact on local communities.” 

Mr Madgwick says the oil and gas industry takes its commitment to environmental protection extremely seriously.

“We are committed to keeping the environmental impact of our activities to an absolute minimum, and so it was extremely pleasing to see some of the innovative approaches of the industry recognised last night.”