IN response to a rumour that Royal Dutch Shell is likely to become the long-awaited strategic LNG partner for InterOil’s Elk-Antelope discoveries in Papua New Guinea, InterOil revealed that negotiations are continuing with “more than one bidder”.

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InterOil's Antelope-2 well flowed 705 million cubic feet of gas per day and yielded 11,200 barrels of condensate per day in late 2009

Citing undisclosed sources, Upstream recently reported that InterOil was on the verge of signing a partnership agreement for its Gulf LNG project with “Shell tipped as the likely party”.

While Shell did not reportedly comment on this claim, InterOil chief financial officer Collin Visaggio provided some response.

“As previously disclosed, InterOil has received bids from potential partners in connection with the development of the Gulf LNG project and an interest in the Elk and Antelope fields in Papua New Guinea,” he told PNGIndustryNews.net.

“Confidential negotiations with more than one bidder are ongoing, and the process is moving forward as planned. InterOil will provide further comment once these discussions have closed and an agreement has been reached.”

The CFO also clarified that the PNG government was “involved in the process to conclude negotiations and achieve FID [final investment decision]”.

The position of Shell in relation to Elk-Antelope has become less certain since the government decided to dismantle Petromin as part of a state-owned enterprise restructure to take place later this year.

Petromin houses the government’s 22.5% stake of the Elk-Antelope field and struck a strategic alliance with Shell in 2011.

InterOil has flagged an initial LNG development of 3.8 million tonnes per annum of capacity but the successful bidder for the Elk-Antelope stake might favour a different approach.

“The development decision will be recommended by the strategic partner and the PNG government will decide and approve the best commercialisation approach,” Visaggio told PNGIndustryNews.net in March.

GLJ Petroleum Consultants has estimated that InterOil’s Elk-Antelope and Triceratops fields in Gulf province host resources of 10.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent, with about 0.4tcfe coming from the less-drilled Triceratops field.

The PNG government is using separate Elk-Antelope estimates made by Gaffney Cline and Associates, which are yet to be publicly revealed.