Friday, May 31, 2013

Papua Bew Guinea's Gulf gas project talks set

Source: Post Courier, Monday 27th May 2013
ExxonMobil and InterOil in talks to develop the Elk and Antelope natural gas reservoirs
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has welcomed the decision by InterOil to start talks with ExxonMobil as a potential partner to develop its Elk and Antelope gas reservoirs.

“This is an important announcement for the development of these assets, and I’m certain all stakeholders will welcome this.“As a stakeholder, the government is pleased that InterOil and its partners are taking the next significant step towards the development of our vast natural gas resource.“When the full potential of the gas reservoirs in the Gulf Province are realised, PNG will have in place a stable revenue flow from these resources for the next 30 to 50 years,” the Prime Minister said.


According to government estimates, PNG GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been growing at an average of 11 per cent a year and with the construction phase of the PNG LNG project reaching 80 percent completion, GDP growth is expected to slow down to 6-8 per cent this year (2013), before rising significantly when LNG exports begin in late 2014 or early 2015.

From the two trains at the current processing site for gas, an ACIL-Tasman cash flow projection says that total cash flow to the PNG government and landowners over 30 years would be around US$31 billion or about K110 billion.
This means that a third and fourth trains would bring in around US$47 billion and US$62 billion, equivalent to K220 billion, over 50-60 years.InterOil announced on Friday that it had entered into “exclusive negotiations” with ExxonMobil to develop the Elk and Antelope fields.InterOil advised the Prime Minister of the steps it was taking before it advised the market (stock exchange) on Friday (PNG time).

The Prime Minister told a gathering on Friday evening the potential entry of ExxonMobil to those assets in Gulf could significantly lift production at the PNG LNG processing facility outside Port Moresby.“At the moment we are building two trains (or processing units) at the processing site for gas from the Hela and Southern Highlands provinces. 

The revenue from the export of LNG from these two trains would double the size of our economy (GDP).“If the talks are successful and ExxonMobil gains access to gas from Elk and Antelope, we will certainly add one, possibly two, more trains and our GDP would triple in size.“This means PNG will have a stable revenue flow from its gas resources for the next 50 years or so.

”The Prime Minister said with global LNG demand likely to rise to 500 tonnes a year by 2025, as estimated by market experts, his government has worked hard to ensure PNG benefits fully by promoting PNG as a stable supplier of natural gas in a stable political environment with a robust and growing economy. He recently travelled to China and Japan, where most of our big buyers are located, to meet heads of governments there and held talks with investors seeking to enter and develop PNG’s vast natural resources potential. 


Prime Minister O’Neill is planning to travel to Indonesia next month and later Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.“I’m pleased that oil and gas global majors like ExxonMobil and Total see PNG as a stable supplier of energy (gas) to the world market. Their long term investment here is proof of that.“As a government, we will continue to provide a stable political climate, a fair tax regime, and sound development policies so that our people fully benefit from the development of these resources,” he said.

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