Developer qualified for licence, says minister

TWINZA, the operator of the Pasca gas reserves offshore Gulf, is qualified for a petroleum development licence (PDL) to proceed with commercialisation, says Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua.
North Waghi MP and former Petroleum Minister Dr Fabian Pok queried about issuing a PDL to Twinza in Parliament on Friday.
Pok wanted to know whether Twinza had carried out a minimum of three drills to qualify for a PDL.
“The answer is no, it is not a conditioned precedent. The work programme can require a number of drillings to take place but if in anyone of those you make a commercial finding, then you can put in an application for development licence and you can to be given a development licence if there is a commercial prospect and you are able to commercialise it,” Kua said.
Kua said Pasca had done four drills.
“So if the minimum was three, they have already done four. In 2017 the last drilling was done at the request of former minister Dr Fabian Pok himself when he was the minister. It was the fourth drilling that confirmed total reservoirs of 0.8 TCF (trillion cubic feet) and that is enough for a small operator to commerce operation.
“They have done their numbers and they feel that you can operationalise that, run it and if you make money, then you can explore further into other areas of the licence,
“By oil and gas standards, it is only a very small reserve.”