NPCP ready for business, says MD

Business, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday February 4th, 2014

 THE National Petroleum Company PNG (NPCP) is ready to do business once the LNG export begins this year, managing director Wapu Sonk said.

Formally known as Kroton #2, the company was nominated as the state nominee in 2009 to hold 16.6% interest in the PNG LNG project. 

NPCP had a small but very-professional team of technical staff, which handled all stakeholder commitments in the LNG project.

Following an agreement signed with Direco Services (PNG) Ltd last October to use its technical expertise, Sonk said: “We (NPCP) have the arrangement in place and we are working closely with them on various technical areas like petroleum basin analysis and others.”

He said NPCP was a licensee for four petroleum development licence PDL 1, 7,8 and 9.

“We have other projects outside of the PNG LNG project that we are working together with ExxonMobil who operates those licences 

“We are looking at seismic and exploration drilling potentials within those licences that hopefully would find additional gas reserves to be added to any LNG expansion project plans.”

On its stake in the Moran oil field, Sonk said NPCP did not have 11.5% interest in Moran field but Petromin.”

Sonk said the state’s interests in Kutubu and Gobe were held by Oregon Minerals, which was later merged with Oil Search Ltd and that’s why the state has 14.7% shareholding in Oil Search. 

 “This is the parcel of shares that was converted to exchangeable bonds for which International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) paid A$1.681 billion (K3.5 billion) in exchange for those bonds.

Sonk said that the transaction would  mature on March 5, 2014 and he belived the government had been working on refinancing the IPIC bonds.

He however said he was not privy to the transaction as IPBC was the entity that did the deal with IPIC.  

IPIC was formed by the Abu Dhabi government in 1984 to invest in the energy and related sectors across the globe.