The Papua New Guinea Government received confirmation of global interest in bidding for 15 exploration blocks in the Gulf of Papua when 60 executives from more than 30 international oil and gas companies attended their inaugural road show in Singapore.
The companies included the big British Gas Group, ChevronTexaco, CNPC of China, Hunt Oil Company, Korea Gas Corporation, Mitsubishi, Nippon, Pearl Energy Ltd, Petronas, Premier Oil, Repsol and Singapore Petroleum.
Sir Moi told the audience that the area was selected because of their newly recognised prospectivity and proximity to onshore discoveries as well as finds in the offshore Papuan sedimentary basin.
Independent assessment of the offshore areas of the eastern Gulf of Papua and out into the Coral Sea was done by Fugro Multiclient Services, a subsidiary of the Fugro Group, which is a major geo-science and technology business specialising in marine petroleum geophysics.
He said although PNG has law and order problems which are common features of a developing nation, it has been host to some world class mining and petroleum projects developed and operated by industry majors such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, ChevronTexaco and
ExxonMobil.
With the official opening of the bidding process by Sir Moi in Singapore on Wednesday, the licensing round process will continue until April 13 next year.
Source: The National