Firm eyes PNG’s gas resources

 GAS commercialisation opportunities in Papua New Guinea is a key subject of Horizon Oil, chief executive Brent Emmett says.

He said this given the potential for the Papua New Guinea liquid-rich gas resources to generate substantial, long-lived cash flow for shareholders. 

Horizon Oil has 30 per cent interest in the Stanley oil field and 27 per cent interest in the Elevala/Ketu fields in Western.

“This year, a number of developments emerged that gave us increasing confidence regarding the prospects for commercialisation of the company’s large gas resources,” Brent said.

“It is likely that Stanley Gas will be used for power generation – gas-to-electricity – to meet the requirements of regional mining and domestic users, displacing diesel or fuel oil that they would otherwise use. 

“The recent shut-in of the Ok Tedi mine to the north of the Stanley field, because diesel fuel for power generation could not be shipped to the mine as a result of the low level of the Fly River, provides an object lesson on the need for a GTE solution.

“While we expect that this will eventually proceed, the volume of gas required is relatively small.

“The Frieda River copper-gold project, further again to the north, however is potentially a much larger gas consumer.

“The Frieda River project with Ok Tedi, could account for the entire Stanley gas resource.”