CAPITAL: Port Moresby
MONETARY UNIT: Kina
REFINING CAPACITY: None
OIL PRODUCTION: 76,000 b/d
OIL RESERVES: 325 million bbl
GAS RESERVES: 9 tcf
Development advanced for two oil fields to supplement production from Kutubu field in Papua New Guinea`s highlands in 1997, while an ambitious export pipeline scheme emerged to make use of the region`s large reserves of natural gas.
Chevron Nuigini Pty. Ltd. received approval for development of Gobe oil field and expected to start production in the first quarter of 1998. Output was to average 40,000 b/d in the first 3 years. Gobe, 80 km southeast of Chevron`s Kutubu field, was to be linked to Kutubu`s export pipeline, which flows to a terminal on the Gulf of Papua.
Chevron and partners were conducting an extended production test of unitized Moran oil field near Kutubu. In early 1997, Chevron reported that its 1X Moran sidetrack discovery flowed oil at the highest rate recorded in the country during a drill stem test: 8,100 b/d of light oil and 10.9 MMcfd of gas from Digimu sandstone through 3.5 in. tubing.
Chevron estimated reserves of Moran field at 130 million bbl, about the same as Gobe.
To provide for development of gas reserves in the area, Chevron proposed to lay a pipeline from the highlands to the coast and across the Torres Strait to Australia.
It selected two combines, one of Australian Gas Light Co. and Malaysia`s Petronas and the other of Nova Corp. and Williams Cos., to compete for participation rights in the project. Negotiations were expected to continue into at least first quarter 1998.
GAS produced from Kutubu field had been reinjected, but blow-down by 2001 was thought essential to maximum oil recovery.
Chevron proposed to move gas 160 km from the highlands to the Gulf of Papua in a pipeline parallel to the oil export line. It would build a processing plant at Kopi on the Kikori River to separate methane and ethane from LPG and condensate.
The methane and ethane would move through a 460 km pipeline under Torres Strait to the tip of Australia`s Cape York Peninsula. Then it would move through a 2,000 km land pipeline to Townsville and Gladstone on the East Queensland coast.
LPG separated at Kopi would move to a new plant in the Gulf of Papua near the Kumul oil terminal for further processing. LPG then could be sold domestically or exported. Condensate would be blended with oil for export.
