Court dismisses Todd challenge over Pohokura

Todd has lost its High Court bid over who operates the Pohokura gas field, a Wellington newspaper is reporting today.

Todd and Shell are currently joint operators of the field through a 50:50 venture, Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS) -- a partnership dating back to 1955.

But in August Shell sought to supplant STOS as operator of Pohokura, a move that was supported by Austrian explorer OMV, the gas field's third owner after Shell and Todd.

On August 17, Shell and OMV voted to remove STOS.

Yesterday the court dismissed Todd's action, which challenged the validity of that resolution.

The Pohokura field is expected to start producing gas next year, and should yield about 700 petajoules of gas over the next 20 years, making it a key player in the bid to replace the diminishing Maui gas resources.

- nzpa