MAY THE FORCE BE WITH INTEROIL IN 2016!
Let's look at the excerpt from the 4 January AFR Article by Angela Macdonald-Smith ... and then understand the source of the Carbonate comment. Then, let's compare the PNG LNG Project and its wells to Papua LNG:
http://www.afr.com/business/energy/oil/d...223-glu5hi
Counting against the deal happening are the reservations Woodside is thought to hold towards InterOil's gas resources, being far less certain than Oil Search's. The "carbonate" style of the reservoir makes it more challenging and risky for development, industry sources say.
Highbury Partnership banker Alan Young says plenty of majors have been attracted to InterOil's PNG gas resources in the past but backed off after taking a closer look, concluding it would be difficult to make it work, and potentially require many more wells to get the gas out of the ground.
1. WHO IS HIGHBURY PARTNERSHIP - and Alan Young?
http://www.highburypartnership.com/alan-young/
Highbury Partners consists of two fellows located in Sydney. Matthew Roberts and Alan Young.
In a 23 year career Alan Young worked for five firms before joining Highbury (partnering with his buddy Matthew Roberts) in 2013. Since forming Highbury, their list of Case Studies includes only third tier companies: http://www.highburypartnership.com/case-studies/
He has no reason whatsoever to be in the know about any hidden Elk/Antelope details. My guess is that what he told Angela is the old scuttlebut that he heard from SHORTS while at Prostar Capital and JP Moregains.
He's located in Sydney, and probably knows Angela (also in Sydney), and simply gave her some contra controversial fodder that she needed for the Article. Personally I don't view him as being an "industry source" who keeps up-to-date on IOC.
2. HOW MANY WELLS ARE FEEDING PNG LNG
We all know how successful PNG LNG has been for the JV Partners. Gas comes from the Highlands region of PNG. Here is an excellent overview of the project, courtesy of the Oil Search folks:
http://www.oilsearch.com/Our-Activities/...oject.html
Gas is sourced from SEVEN DIFFERENT UNCONNECTED FIELDS:
+ Gas Fields: JUHA; HIDES; ANGORE - - - 9 new production wells were drilled. Costs are included in the $19 Billion Project.
+ Oil and Gas Fields: MORAN; AGOGO; KUTUBU; GOBE MAIN - - - investment was made to enable production of pipeline quality gas from four production wells
+ There is also one water reinjection well at PNG LNG
SO ... a total of 13 production wells are in-place because of the large number of fields involved and the lower quality of the reservoirs relative to Elk/Antelope
3. INFORMATION ON CARBONATE RESERVOIRS
This summary on the Schlumberger Website is very informative. I highly recommend you go through this to see how a Carbonate Reservoir is developed and managed. Like anything else, the Owners must know what they are doing when dealing with these prolific fields. TOTAL, IOC and Oil Search all know wat they're doing.
http://www.slb.com/services/technical_ch...nates.aspx
4. HOW MANY WELLS WILL PAPUA LNG NEED?
To my knowledge, they intend to have on the order of 7-8 production wells. Unfortunately, not all of the wells drilled so far are being kept as future production wells .... perhaps 4 of the can be used, plus hopefully A-6 after it's completed.
They may not need a water re-injection well if the Gas Conditioning Plant is located adjacent to a River. They may be able to treat the water and discharge it directly.