Monday, 8 April 2013
OIL Search managing director Peter Botten is supporting the Papua New Guinea government’s petroleum-related reforms, including the recent formation of a national oil company that “owns all” of PNG’s hydrocarbon interests.
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Oil Search managing director Peter Botten on the ground in PNG |
In his section of Oil Search’s annual report unveiled on Friday, Botten said he was very supportive of recent initiatives, especially the proposed sovereign wealth fund to manage the government’s PNG LNG project revenues from 2014.
“Oil Search also believes that the proposal to reform the Department of Petroleum and Energy, by creating a better resourced Petroleum Authority, and the recent formation of a revitalised national oil company, with responsibility for owning and managing all the state’s hydrocarbon interests, are to be applauded,” Botten said.
These comments support other views that the government could transfer the 16.6% stake of PNG LNG held by the state-owned Independent Public Business Corporation into the same company which is expected to receive the petroleum assets of state-owned Petromin, which will be dismantled.
In the case of Petromin’s 22.5% stake of the Elk-Antelope field, which underpins InterOil’s Gulf LNG project, there could be more opportunities to possibly use these resources to fuel any expansions of the PNG LNG project.
“In our view, having strong entities to both regulate and participate in PNG’s petroleum industry [is] essential in light of the forthcoming massive change in the size and complexity of the sector,” Botten said.
On the government’s intentions to review petroleum taxation laws, Botten said continued investment required ongoing stability, certainty and predictability.
“With many potential growth projects expected to reach development stage in the next decade, we are confident that an appropriate split of risk and reward can be achieved,” he said.
He also outlined Oil Search’s key areas of focus for 2013, which included whether a decision was made to start front-end engineering design work for PNG LNG expansion based on the P’nyang gas field it boosted last year.
Outside of its well-known work with PNG LNG, its offshore PNG drilling campaign, its upstream endeavours in the Middle East and its continual oil field optimisation operations, Oil Search will embark upon appraisal drilling of its Mananda oil and gas field in PNG.
Botten said if this was successful a development decision would be made by the end of 2013.
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