“Working with Firth was easy,” says Jaco. “The collaboration, planning and commitment were very good. They understood how important it was to satisfy our client as there were some very tough constraints on getting this done. It was really satisfying to have the confidence that we would get what was promised. The collaboration and the planning Firth provides - which is imperative on the large pours like this - is something we can really rely on. If Firth say there are going to give me 14 trucks from two plants, that's what I get. We didn't need to stress about the concrete showing up. “
Firth proves their worth for construction of the Kapuni J gas field
During 2020, in amongst the COVID lockdown, Todd Energy had been preparing for a new round of drilling to extend reserves and production at their onshore Kapuni gas field. The company acquired full control of the country's oldest gas field in August 2017 with drilling planned for the site in early 2021.
Construction for the foundations of the new well-site was put in the hands of Fulton Hogan, Taranaki with Jaco Lessing, Project Manager for Fulton Hogan, taking the reins … and whose first choice for concrete supply was Firth.
“Todd Energy have plenty of well sites all over the region and they commission work on sites where they have approval and where there is potential for extraction,” explains Jaco. “We were contracted to undertake the construction of the foundations for the equipment and the process plants that will be installed to process whatever they extract from the Kapuni J site. Our involvement began in April until lockdown – which meant we were all put on ice until about June. In saying that there was a lot of earth works and a bridge construction that were underway probably a year in advance of this.”
Jaco says he had previously worked with Firth in the region and had found them to have a very good, collaborative approach to projects - especially larger projects and pours.
“When I was handed the job we said we wanted to talk to Firth as they were well suited to the job,” adds Jaco. “We approached them and had a few early start up meetings to discuss quantities, quality and commitment and to give them an understanding of what was required as we were under some pretty tough constraints re timing, traffic movement and travel time on the roads. All of these requirements had been documented in a traffic management plan that had been pre-approved by the local community and had taken into account everything down to school bus runs.”
“The supply of concrete to the Kapuni J project was a good large volume, short term job for us which we supplied over about a month,” says Owen Richardson, Area Operations / Sales Manager (Taranaki) for Firth. “We delivered approximately 1800m3 of concrete to the Kapuni J site which is around the opposite side of Mount Taranaki from our plants.”
Owen says that Firth used supply from their Hawera and Stratford plants and 14 trucks to achieve the supply rates required by the Fulton Hogan team.
Helen Cheyne, Certified Supply Manager (Taranaki) for Firth says, “The team pulled together and worked hard and long hours to achieve the customers' requirements while still managing our regular work."
Principal: Todd Energy
Customer: Fulton Hogan, Taranaki
Location: Taranaki
Product: Certified Concrete®