Esso: Drilling at Hides begins

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The National, Tuesday July 31st, 2012

ESSO Highlands Ltd has begun drilling operations for the PNG LNG project at the Hides natural gas field in Southern Highlands province. 
The drill wells will produce about nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the life of the project.  
“The PNG LNG project is unique and important to Papua New Guinea.
“The start of our drilling programme is a key step in meeting our goal of first LNG deliveries in 2014,” drilling manager Jim McDermott said.
The specially-designed Nabors Rig 702 is being used to drill the initial well, the first of several natural gas production wells at Hides.
The rig has incorporated best-in-class features to help safely and effectively drill PNG’s world-class resource.
It has been designed to withstand earthquakes and includes containment equipment and facilities to protect the environment.  
A second rig to be used in the gas drilling programme has arrived in PNG and is currently being transported to the Hides area.
“We have an exceptional team, including Papua New Guinean drilling engineers who recently returned from Melbourne, Australia, where they spent a year-and-a-half learning about ExxonMobil’s drilling operations.
“They are now putting their training into practice,” McDermott said.