Australian energy company Santos has signed an agreement in Papua New Guinea to buy a stake in an exploration licence from ExxonMobil and Oil Search, both shareholders in the PNG LNG plant and a second liquefaction venture planned for the Oceania nation.

Oil Search : Santos acquires stake in Papua New Guinea exploration license

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Santos has signed an agreement to acquire a 20% stake in Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) 402 in Papua New Guinea. The interest will be acquired from both Oil Search and Exxon Mobil.

PPL 402 lies about 40 km northwest of the Hides gas field and production facilities, and within the highly prospective thrust and fold belt trend. The license covers an area of 510 km2.

The farm-in results in Santos participation in the recently spudded Muruk 1 exploration well. The well is targeting the Toro formation, which is gas bearing in the nearby Hides and Juha fields, and is expected to have a mean gas resource of approximately 2 Tcf at a proposed depth of approximately 3,450 m.

Todays agreement demonstrates our commitment to growing our position in Papua New Guinea and working with our long-term partners to explore and develop, Kevin Gallagher, managing director and CEO of Santos, said.

The terms of the agreement are confidential.

Post farm-in, the PPL 402 participants will be affiliates of Santos (20%), affiliates of Exxon Mobil (42.5%) and Oil Search (37.5%, operator).