Pike River tragedy burdens listed oil and gas company's books.

The first gas to be extracted from the offshore Kupe field has been piped inland, 23 years after the field was discovered.

This afternoon the first gas and liquids was piped to a processing plant near Hawera, with full steady state production expected in the next few months.

The Kupe project is a joint venture deal involving Origin Energy, New Zealand Oil and Gas, Genesis Energy and Mitsui.