Kua: Gulf’s Pasca offshore gas project next on agenda

Business

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
THE Pasca A offshore gas project in Gulf will be the next petroleum project the Government will look to develop, Petroleum and Energy Minister Kerenga Kua says.
Kua said yesterday that a State negotiating team (SNT) would start discussions with operator Twinza Oil shortly.
“Pasca seems to be a good news,” he said. “The operator is ready to negotiate with the State.
“We have not been able to engage with them because of the P’nyang project.
“It’s (Pasca A) a small project but it’s an important project.”
The project is 85km out at sea, within PNG’s exclusive economic zone.
The project will be producing condensate, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas.
Condensate and LPG will be produced initially followed shortly after by monetisation of natural gas through LNG production and export. In a recent interview, Twinza managing director Huw Evans said production would average approximately 19,000 barrels per day of which 55 per cent would be condensate and 45 per cent LPG.
Evans said these levels of production would be steady throughout the liquids’ extraction phase of the project.
“Gas monetisation of the Pasca A field alone will produce around 700,000 tonnes of LNG per year for 12 years, starting a few years after production of LPG and condensate. This equates on average to about one LNG cargo per month,” he said.
“There are opportunities to expand the LNG production in the Gulf of Papua with the Pasca project as the catalyst for a wider aggregation of discovered yet undeveloped gas resources and we are working closely with the state to explore how we can bring that about.”
Meanwhile, the Oil and Gas Act provides for the Government to have a back-in right of up to 22.5 per cent equity on the project.