Santos boss talks project agreement fields.
Botten has been talking integrating E/A gas.
XOM won't pay up prior to either appraisal program being completed.
**********
**********
PNG LNG eyes expansion with Hides field
THE ExxonMobil-led Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project,
which is days away from shipping its first LNG cargo, is keenly awaiting results of development and appraisal drilling on the Hides field, writes Russell Searancke.
By RUSSELL SEARANCKE Oslo
23 May 2014 07:47 GMT
First gas flowed on 28 April and the LNG carrier Spirit Of Hela is due to sail for Asia imminently.
The co-owners are basking in the success of the $19 billion scheme but already have project expansion on their minds.
Oil Search and Santos, who hold 29% and 13.5% project interests, respectively, told shareholders that expansion is a key plank in their growth and that attention is on the Hides gas field and P'nyang gas resource.
Santos chief executive David Knox said: "The Hides field is the field on which PNG LNG is focused today. What is very exciting is that this year we will be exploring the deep basins beneath the Hides field, a world-class exploration prospect."
Oil Search managing director Peter Botten was more revealing, indicating that the co-owners did not know what Hides' ultimate size was, and that a major drilling campaign is under way to fully assess the field.
More information on Hides should be known by the end of 2014, he added.
Hides is the main feedstock field for the project, and six production wells have been completed, all of which also helped in the understanding of the reserves.
In addition, drilling is ongoing at the last two production wells and a water disposal well, which will be used to reinject any water from the wells and help constrain the vertical extent of the hydrocarbon column at the field.
In addition there is a large deep exploration prospect called Hides-5 to spud in the fourth quarter this year which will test the deeper Koi-Iange reservoir.
Meanwhile, the P'nyang gas field is also a large undeveloped resource which has various complexities to address during ongoing studies.
Another potential resource called Juha is the subject of a seismic programme.
