PNG Oil Sector Approaches Precipice
PORT MORESBY, May 2 (energy24.com) - Papua New Guinea's oil industry is on the verge of
collapse, it has been claimed, and needs urgent action to fix it up.
Speaking at the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum's annual general meeting, president Dr Moseley Moramoro said that
members have admitted that "we are likely to see the demise of the industry in 10 to 12 years time".
Dr Moramoro pointed to the dramatic fall in exploration activity in the country in recent years and the decision by a large number
of international companies to pull out of PNG. "Without exploration, there is no future for the mining and petroleum industry," he
said.
Dr Moramoro said production at Kutubu and Gobe has been declining steadily and that the decline will continue even with the full
field development of Moran.
The Chamber's chief executive, Greg Anderson, said oil production in PNG last year averaged just below 70,000 barrels a day
compared with a peak of 150,000 b/d in 1996. "Production in future years is expected to decline steadily to below 10,000 b/d by
which time the oilfields will be sub-economic," he said.
"The message is on the wall. Unless we can revive exploration, and develop the PNG Gas Project and the Ramu Nickel Project
the industry will effectively cease to exist by 2010 to 2012," he said. |
