At the recent Australia PNG Business Forum in Brisbane, Brett Darley, the Santos President Upstream Oil and Gas, said the Angore Development project would help the gas sector and boost Papua New Guinea’s economy.

The announcement of the next tranche of backfill gas to maintain Papua LNG production as well as the final investment decision for the Angore Development project have put Santos in a strong position.

Mr Darley estimated the first gas from Angore would be in 2024 and that Santos’s share of capital expenditure would be roughly US$135 million (K475.3 million). He added that after the last couple of years, the drilling would result in a boost for both the sector and the economy.

Darley added that the company was also looking to expand its portfolio, and other results had been promising.

“In addition to progress being made on the Angore Development project, we have seen strong performance from the Agogo and Moran fields. A coiled tubing campaign commenced in the fourth quarter of last year in those fields, which will deliver incremental production in 2022,” Darley said.

He also talked about the impact likely to result from Papua LNG and the progress being made. “Papua LNG, a project that has the potential to be nation shaping for decades to come, continues to progress technical and commercial, regulatory, social, and environmental activities. These pre-FEED activities remain on track in support of a FEED-entry decision that is targeted to be made by the end of this year.”

Mr Darley noted that with the current international supply shortage of Liquefied Natural Gas, projects like Papua LNG would become increasingly important for maintaining global energy security and keeping LNG affordable.

“We are continuing to work hard with our joint venture partners to progress this project which will create local jobs in Papua New Guinea, drive economic development, and create revenues for the government.

“The other growth project that we are working hard on is P’nyang, with the P’nyang Gas Agreement being successfully executed between the PRL3 joint venture partners and the PNG government earlier this year.”

“We are working hard on the integration of the Oil Search business, on delivering on our commitments, and on ensuring the growth project and opportunities that are so important to PNG to continue on schedule and on budget,” Darley said.

Image caption: PM Marape at Australia-PNG Business Forum. Image credit renowned former PNG photographer and now Brisbane resident Rocky Roe.