Oil Search managing director Keiran Wulff believes the company has emerged from 2020 stronger and more resilient as a result of its response to COVID-19.
Outlined in the company’s 2020 full year results, Oil Search delivered a full year production of 29 million barrels of oil equivalent and the strongest safety performance since assuming operatorship in 2003.
“Despite the material challenges, Oil Search achieved three important records for the year. The first is the strongest safety performance in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since becoming operator on the PNG oil field in 2003. The second is the strongest production reliability from our operations in PNG since the 2018 earthquake, and lastly, the delivery of record annual production from the PNG LNG project,” Wulff said.
2021 has seen the company accelerate the momentum for the Papua LNG project, with it signing a fiscal stability agreement with the PNG Government and the joint venture being offered a second five-year extension on its petroleum retention licence to progress the project to the final investment decision (FID).
Wulff added that it was a clear demonstration of the increasing alignment between the PNG Government and the Papua LNG joint venture.
“It marks a significant milestone for the project as the Papua LNG operator Total targets entering the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase in 2022,” he said.
“We are excited for the opportunities and benefits the project will bring to all stakeholders, including the people of PNG, and the Papua LNG project development schedule is targeting the delivery of LNG volumes into the market window when additional supply is forecast to be required.”
Further outlined in the report, Oil Search’s priorities for 2021 include: PNG LNG development of Angore; high value, low break even and early production opportunities; selldown of its Alaska interest to fund development; Pikka FEED and FID by end of the year; and Papua LNG pre-FEED.
“We will continue to focus on maximising operating cash flow and delivering on our material growth projects which will be underpinned by resilient and disciplined capital management. We have established a dedicated transformation team to embed a high performance culture across the business,” Wulff concluded.