Horizon Oil said it has increased its interest in the total certified resources contained in Papua New Guinea’s Western Foreland fields of 2.0 – 2.5 tcf gas and 60 – 70 mmbbl of condensate to about 28 percent.
The company and partner Repsol now operate all the licenses and hold 70 percent of the total gas resource to be aggregated to underpin the proposed 1.5 million tons per annum (mtpa) Western LNG project, facilitating the planned multi-licence development.
The company advised in January 2017 that it had acquired a 50 percent interest in, and operatorship of, PRL 28 (Ubuntu field) adjacent to PRL 21. Further to that, the company acquired an additional 3.15 interest in PRL 21, as Mitsubishi Corporation divested its upstream assets in PNG.
Horizon Oil also exchanged a 20 percent interest in PRL 28 for a 20 percent interest in PRL 40 in a trade with Kumul Petroleum Holdings, PNG’s national oil company.
Brent Emmet , the company’s CEO, said that Horizon Oil’s license interests relate to the planned 1.5 mtpa LNG facility to be located near Daru Island.
“The foundation gas will come, in the main, from Elevala/Tingu and Ketu fields and so an additional 3 percent license makes good sense,” Emmet said.
Puk Puk and Douglas fields will be important contributors to the gas aggregation later in the project life, extending the production plateau significantly, Emmet adds.
“As a result of these transactions, the company holds material working interests in all the appraised fields that will comprise the Western LNG gas aggregation project,” he said.
Horizon Oil and Repsol between them operate all the licenses involved and, in combination, will own about 70 percent of the total gas resources