Oil Search waits to go online to know quake cost and impact

By MARK HAIHUIE
THE PNG LNG Project will not know the full cost and impact of the earthquakes until it is back online, says Oil Search managing director Peter Botten.
He told The National that production for Gobe and Kutubu oilfields were expected to resume in the next few weeks and those at the other sites would come online progressively.
“It is too early to say at the moment,” Botten said.
“We will be able to give a better idea of the overall costs and its impacts on revenue when we start to come back online.
“We see that production will actually start in the Gobe oilfields maybe later this week going early next week.
“Progressively we are likely to start production from Kutubu and then later the Agogo and the Moran.
“There is more damage on Agogo and Moran than the other sites.
“When we know that we are coming on, then we can have an estimate about the cost and the impact.
“There is a significant effort going on – not just into relief but also in restoring production.
“That is so important for our company but also for the economy of the country to get production up and running as soon as we can.”