Speaking at the PNG Mining and Petroleum Conference in Sydney, Duma paid tribute to Talisman and Horizon Oil who are developing the Stanley gas and condensate project for start-up in 2014, followed by the Elevala-Ketu development. Both are gas recycling schemes whereby the condensate is produced and sold and the gas reinjected for later use.
Duma said that, following on from Stanley and Elevala-Ketu, "I then expect there will be sufficient developed gas resources, aggregated within additional gas resources in licences in Western Province held by a Talisman Energy-led group, to underwrite PNG's third LNG project".
The first two are the ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG project, and the second is the planned InterOil Gulf LNG project.
Duma said he had placed no timelines on the Talisman-led development, but expected it to be of a similar scale to the planned Gulf project, which is 4 million tonnes per annum.