Picture: Drilling's a gas down in Taranaki

Picture / Rob Tucker

The Ensco-56 jack-up drilling rig (left) with the ship PTV Annegret during mooring trials off the Taranaki coast this week, part of the final stages in a $1 billion project to bring natural gas from the Pohokura field to shore.

The rig will be used in the construction of an offshore platform, a key part of the field.

First gas should be flowing in the second half of this year, with most of it for use in power stations.