An announcement from the Government expressing support is expected shortly.
The Joint Venture has agreed the following:
- The LNG plant will be located at Caution Bay, approximately 20 km north-west of Port Moresby and adjacent to the PNG LNG Project site.
- The upstream central processing facility will be located west of the Her Base in PRL 15, close to the Purari River.
- The approximately 75 km onshore and 265 km offshore pipeline routes for the separate gas and condensate pipeline have been determined.
Detailed geotechnical data acquisition will be undertaken over the next few months to further define the site locations.
“The selection of the site locations for key infrastructure for the proposed Papua LNG Project is a significant milestone and follows an exhaustive evaluation process of a large range of options by the Joint Venture over the last twelve months,” said Oil Search Managing Director Peter Botten.
“These decisions will enable the Joint Venture to commence early engagement with key stakeholders, including State, Provincial and Local Governments as well as local communities. The location at Caution Bay will also maximise the opportunity to pursue potential synergies with the PNG LNG Project.”
The selection of the final development concept, including sizing and capacity of the facilities, is expected to take place in early 2016, once appraisal of the Elk-Antelope field has been completed and the resource size has been quantified.
Joint venture interests in PRL 15 are Total (operator, 40.1 per cent), InterOil (36.5 per cent), Oil Search (22.8 per cent) and minorities (0.5 per cent).