Twinza, PNG government begin gas agreement talks for Pasca development

Twinza Oil Ltd, Perth, has begun negotiations with the government of Papua New Guinea on a gas agreement for development of Pasca A gas-condensate field in the Gulf of Papua.

 

The discussions centre on fiscal terms.

 

Roppe Uyassi, Twinza’s PNG country manager said the company is working with the government to come to an agreement that allows the gas project to move forward while providing a higher State take than in previous projects.

 

“Once the Pasca A gas agreement and the petroleum development license are in place, the project is well positioned to enter front-end engineering and design (FEED) later this year,” he said.

 

Discussions will also address non-fiscal opportunities, including domestic market commitment, third party access to facilities, and national content.

 

Pasca A is planned to be PNG’s first offshore development and is being promoted as an infrastructure hub whereby existing discoveries like nearby Pandora gas field, along with any new discoveries in the region, can utilise spare capacity at the Pasca facilities to lower costs.

The Pasca discussions are being held following the PNG government’s publicized push for a greater national share of the country’s resources.

 

Pasca field lies in permit PPL 328 in 93 metres of water about 250 km west of Port Moresby.

 

Twinza has completed an extensive work programme at Pasca, including drilling of the Pasca A4 (AD-1) well in early 2018. The fourth well to be drilled on the field, it confirmed the hydrocarbon volumes and the quality of the liquids-rich gas.

 

Pasca, a carbonate reef reservoir discovered by Phillips Petroleum in 1968, is best known for the blow-out of the Pasca A-3 well in 1983. The well, at the time operated by Superior Oil, was allowed to flow for a number of months before it cratered in on itself.

 

Twinza took up the permit in 2011 believing the field still contained substantial reserves.

Its initial (Phase 1) development plan is to bring the field on stream via two production wells and a single injector.

 

These wells will be tied back to a minimal wellhead platform which is braced to an adjoining self-installing platform with the processing and utilities topsides.

 

Condensate and LPG extracted from the gas during Phase 1 will be stored on a floating storage and offloading vessel accessible from the platform via a retractable gangway.

 

Residual dry gas will be reinjected into the reservoir.

 

Twinza says about 200,000 tonnes/year of LPG will be destined for the PNG domestic market. Condensate will be available for export.

 

For Phase 2 development (export of LNG), a floating liquefaction storage and offloading (FLSO) vessel will be moored close to the central processing facility and the residual gas will be re-routed via a flowline to the FLSO.

 

The injection well will be re-purposed as a production well by reversing the direction of flow in the well.

 

Source: Oil & Gas Journal