Ten PDLs in operation, says dept

The National Business

THERE are 10 active petroleum development licences (PDLs) in the country, according to the Department of Petroleum and Energy.
Department secretary David Manau stated in a paid advertisement that the PDLs were held by three operators, as of December 2022.
“A PDL is basically a development licence to develop an already established economically and technically proven and viable petroleum discovery with a 25-year initial tenure and a further extension of 20 years,” he said.
“There are 10 active PDLs with three operators.
The three operators are Santos (then Oil Search) with five PDLs, ExxonMobil with four PDLs and Arran Energy with one.
“Recently, Twinza Oil, ExxonMobil and Horizon Oil (Arran Energy bought off Horizon Oil’s interest in PNG) applied for a PDL for the development of Pasca gas field in PPL 328 (APDL 14), P’nyang gas field in PRL 3 (APDL 13) and Ethe levala Ketu gas fields in PRL 21 (APDL 12) respectively,” Manau said.
“It is anticipated that Total will follow suit by applying for a PDL for the development of the Elk Antelope gas fields in PRL 15 for the proposed Papua LNG project.
“Note that the Stanley gas field over which PDL 10 was granted to in 2014 is yet to be developed due to drop in Oil prices at that time.
The new operator for PDL 10 now is Arran Energy.”
Meanwhile, Manau explained that the PNG petroleum licensing regime was a sequence of processes between an application for petroleum license and the termination of that license if awarded.
In between, this system covers the process for any type of petroleum license:

  • APPLICATION for a petroleum license;
  • REVIEW and recommendation by the petroleum advisory board;
  • AWARD or refusal of a petroleum licence;
  • IF awarded, compliance during tenure of licence; and,
  • TERMINATION of licence at the end of tenure or surrender or cancellation of a licence.