Member Country Report of Papua New Guinea - CCOP

licences and a sole petroleum processing facility licence during the reporting year. Elevennew licences were awarded, two within the Cape Vogel Basin, four within the North NewGuinea Basin and five in the Papuan Basin. Eight licences are operating within the NorthNew Guinea Basin, three in the Cape Vogel Basin and the remaining licences are operatingwithin the Papuan Basin.This year saw an increase in some petroleum exploration activities particularly in theacquisition of geological and geophysical surveys, airborne gravity and magnetic surveys,compared to the previous year. Also, there was an increase in the number of exploration wellsdrilled this year compared to the past year. Four wildcat exploration wells were drilledincluding two conclusive sidetracks. They were the Puk Puk 1 and Elk 4A wells drilled in theForeland area, and the Cobra 1A ST3 and the North West Paua 1A ST3 wells located in theFold belt. The North West Paua 1A ST3 well was water-wet, while Cobra 1A ST3, Puk Puk 1and Elk 4 well had hydrocarbon shows. A re-entry was carried out at Stanley 1 well, whichwas drilled by Santos in early 1999. The new operator, Horizon Oil, re-entered and flowtestedthe well for gas commercialization purposes in the near future. Two field appraisalwells were drilled, IDT 1 and IHT 2. The former well was successfully completed as aproducer. The latter well was problematic with the loss of tools down hole, but eventualretrieval resulted in a new workover program that saw to the completion of the well at a muchlater date. Four field development wells, UDT 8, UDT 9 & UDT 10 and Moran 14A weredrilled, respectively, in the Usano Block of the Kutubu Project and in PDL 5 of the MoranProject within the Papuan Fold belt.In 2008, the Kutubu field’s oil production averaged 14,825 BOPD, whilst the Moranoil field averaged 15,143 BOPD and the Gobe fields averaged 7,382 BOPD. The North WestMoran EPT produced 870,693 BBLs of oil. The Hides gas field produced about 5.236 BCFof gas in 2008.The Petroleum Division continued its role as the regulator, promoter and monitoringagent of the State for the petroleum industry. The Division ensured that all exploration,development and production activities were carried out within the provisions of the Oil andGas Act of 1998 and Oil and Gas Regulations of 2002.2.2. Annual Review of Individual Technical ActivitiesFor new activities started during the year briefly outline objectives, methods to beused, locations, intended duration etc: review of new exploration license applications andextension of existing license applications. The aims of these activities are to keep exploringfor hydrocarbons to underpin various proposed petroleum projects in the country. Thereviews should ideally take a month as stipulated in the Act.For activities completed during the year briefly summarize main results and anyfollow-up intended: as mentioned above.Ongoing activities: as mentioned below as ongoing field activities.2.3. Proposed Future Activities• Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) Project: Applications forproduction, pipeline and plant facility licenses have been submitted to the State andthey are under review by the Petroleum Division as we speak. Gaffney Cline &Associates (subsurface) and Granherne Ltd (surface) have been engaged to assist theState in reviewing the various applications according to the Oil and Gas Act of PNG.The Environment Impact Statement (E.I.S) for the Project has been signed inprinciple. Exxon Mobile is the main operator of the project.4 CCOP Member Country Report: PAPUA NEW GUINEA