Santo PNG operations Image source: Santos

Santos today announced the Barikewa-3 well, located in Papua New Guinea’s onshore Forelands region, intersected 25 metres of net gas pay within the Toro and Hedinia reservoir objectives.

Reservoir quality exceeded pre-drill expectations and the appraisal well successfully intersected a gas-water contact in the Hedinia.

A drill-stem test was carried out across the Toro interval at 1,729 to 1,743 metres and flowed gas to surface at 35 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d) on a 68/64” choke. On-site analysis of the gas from the drill-stem test and earlier wireline sampling confirms a dry gas with approximately 20% nitrogen and very low levels of other impurities, in line with pre-drill expectations.

The well, in petroleum permit PRL9, reached total depth of 1,943 metres on 15 July and will be plugged and abandoned as planned upon completion of the test and data retrieval.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said: 
“The Barikewa-3 result is encouraging and confirms that there are significant natural gas resources close to PNG LNG infrastructure still to be developed.”

“Barikewa is located approximately 10 kilometres from the PNG LNG gas pipeline and is therefore well placed to play a part in future LNG expansion projects,” Mr Gallagher said.

Santos has been exploring in Papua New Guinea since the 1980s, is a foundation partner in the PNG LNG Project and has identified PNG as one of its five core long-life natural gas assets for growth. Santos’ strategy in PNG is to work with its partners to align interests, and support and participate in backfill and expansion opportunities at PNG LNG.

Santos, through its wholly owned subsidiary Barracuda Limited, holds a 40% interest in the PRL9 joint venture, operated by Oil Search.

Santos in PNG

Santos has been operating in PNG since the 1980s, turning from explorer to producer in 1998 through the SE Gobe oil project in the northern Gulf Province. The following year Santos secured acreage in the Hides gas field of the Southern Highlands, and is a foundation partner in PNG LNG.

PNG LNG is an integrated development that includes gas production and processing facilities that extend from the Hela, Southern Highlands, Western and Gulf provinces to Port Moresby in Central Province. The facilities are connected by over 700 kilometres of onshore and offshore pipeline and include a gas conditioning plant in Hides and a two-train liquefaction and storage facility near Port Moresby.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production began in April 2014 and since then, PNG LNG has been reliably supplying LNG to four long-term major customers in the Asia region.