Facility puts policy into action: Sonk

By PETER ESILA
THE K300 million Kumul Petroleum Fabrication and Training Facility investment by Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited is about putting down the National Content Policy into action, managing director Wapu Sonk says.
Sonk said this during the ground breaking ceremony near the LNG plant on the shores of Caution Bay, Central, last Friday.
This will be a steel, mechanical and piping module fabrication facility and construction training academy.
“In the PNG LNG project and past projects, what we have seen is that all these big packages on our shores and being basically put together at the LNG plant sites or upstream,” he said.
“We want to make sure that policies like the national content policy works, so we get the national content numbers up and we have meaningful skilling, training done in this place, so we have meaningful transfer of skills, and products and we maximise participation in the resource projects that happen in the future, that is the purpose of this facility, and I thank our partners ExxonMobil, Total and big players that are actually supporting this project.
“We hope that in partnership with all the proponents of projects in future like Papua LNG and P’nyang projects, we will actually put the facilities here, the mechanical, structural, parts that go into building that and putting it together.”
Sonk said the facility would support future projects, in terms of structural, mechanical, electrical instrumentations.

He said their intention was have the facilities to be able to construct large modules (up to 20,000 tonnes) annually to build this capacity over the next three years.
“We will take a final investment decision (Fid) in August or September and once the Fid is taken, we will construct it within 18 months and hopefully before Fid for Papua LNG, this facility will be ready, that is the intent.
“The facility will be constructed on more than 60 hectares of land adjacent to the current LNG plant and close to the Motukea international port.
“The facility will have two main production lines for structural steel fabrication and pipeline and pipe spools fabrication, with separate module assembly areas.
“Kumul Petroleum will not be undertaking this huge industrial operation alone.
“To ensure a productive and assured operational ramp up of facility throughput, and to minimise costs, schedule and quality risk to major projects proponents, we have reached a preliminary agreement with Fabtech International, a world recognised fabrication facility operator that would see Fabtech take a leading role running the facility, in addition to other potential strategic partners to finance and own the facility.”