OMV New Zealand operates Pohokura, Maari and Māui in Taranaki, and its HSE and telecoms teams are the people who decide what an explosion proof mobile phone for New Zealand's offshore and onshore gas is allowed to be. OMV says it has been in New Zealand since 1999 and, after putting its assets up for sale in 2023, announced it would no longer pursue the sale. This page covers what is classified across its sites and what the handset is designed to cope with. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · IECEx and ATEX documentation in progress
OMV's New Zealand portfolio spans three producing fields and a tank farm. Māui is the oldest: a gas field 35 kilometres off the South Taranaki coast, produced through the Māui A and B platforms and processed at the Māui production station at Oaonui, on Tai Road. Pohokura has produced since 2006 and at its peak supplied around 40 per cent of New Zealand's gas; OMV holds 74 per cent and operates it for Todd Energy, with six offshore and five onshore wells operated remotely from OMV's New Plymouth office. Maari, 80 kilometres offshore, is New Zealand's largest producing oil field and is worked from the Tiro Tiro Moana platform. Condensate and crude are held at the Ōmata Tank Farm in New Plymouth, which OMV says is classified as a Major Hazard Facility. That mix of offshore platforms, onshore stations and a hazard-regulated tank farm means a handset has to survive very different days.
OMV's assets share a basin but not a working day. The handset has to suit a trip out to a platform, a walk round a Māui production station and a tank-farm inspection alike.
Personnel reach platforms such as Māui and Maari by helicopter or vessel, so weight and battery life matter before the first valve. The 4,000 mAh cell is specified to cover a shift without a charging point in the classified area.
Pohokura is operated remotely from New Plymouth, so people on site are there for a reason: a fault, maintenance or inspection. A call, a photograph and a GNSS position back to the control room are what such a visit usually needs.
Hydrocarbon vapours from condensate and crude are generally gas group IIA. Ex ib IIC T4 is the design target, which covers IIA, IIB and IIC on a single marking.
OMV is headquartered in Vienna, so its engineers may ask for ATEX documentation alongside IECEx. ATEX certification is in progress for the IS-04Z1, with a target marking of II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4.
A maintenance campaign on Māui or Maari brings contractors and permits onto a small deck. An enrolled handset carries permits and photographs, and its camera can be limited by MDM policy.
An operator on a round at Oaonui or Motunui walks through separation, dehydration and condensate handling in Zone 1 and Zone 2 areas, logging readings as they go.
A Major Hazard Facility has formal inspection regimes. A handset that records location, photographs and a time stamp helps an inspector show that each tank and bund was actually visited.
We have no relationship with OMV New Zealand and cannot describe its internal procedure. Ask OMV's procurement and HSE teams for the registration and equipment-approval route, then build the evidence pack around it.
OMV put them up for sale in March 2023, then announced it would no longer pursue the sale. An earlier agreement to sell its Maari stake to Jadestone was terminated, citing regulatory uncertainty.
The design target is Zone 1 and Zone 21 across all three, but the operator decides area by area, and platform rules differ from onshore rules.
Yes. It is storage rather than process, and OMV says it is classified as a Major Hazard Facility, so its regime is stricter than an ordinary site.
No list price exists. Pre-launch quotes are written for a stated quantity and configuration once the zone, gas group and volume are known.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for New Zealand. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
