Fall in global oil prices key to starting offshore project

 TWINZA Oil Ltd says it is taking advantage of the drop in global oil prices to begin an offshore oil project in Gulf. 

Twinza will be operating the Pasca oil field project in partnership with Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd on a 90/10 joint venture arrangement.

Chief executive Huw Evans said the company also believed there was more potential in the country for offshore oil development. 

“We see a lot, already in the base case, even in the current oil crisis, we can see our development, economic. 

“We see more of the upside in the field itself and we’ll be working towards that, we’ve got approvals and we’re going to go and do further drilling and go and look for further upside event,” he told The National.

“We manage all our oil projects in relevance to the local commodity price. 

“So because we haven’t gone and made a commitment to start the construction, for example, we can take advantage of the much lower construction prices that are going to come into the market. 

“We are very excited in the potential of the country, we are particularly focused on the offshore section so we are going to actively pursue opportunities that we see.

He added that the general industry’s view was that oil prices would stay low a bit longer than thought, but eventually would increase.

“Maybe we’ll see some increase in 2016 onwards.”