Oil Search Says To Extend Papua New Guinea Gas Pipeline To Brisbane
Nihon Keizai Shimbun - Nikkei English News
SYDNEY (Dow Jones) December 1, 1998 --
Oil Search Ltd.'s (A.OSH) managing director,
Peter Botten, Monday said the partners in a
proposed US$2.6 billion natural gas pipeline
between Papua New Guinea and the north of
Australia's Queensland state are trying to
extend the project to deliver gas to Brisbane.
Signing major industrial power customers in
Brisbane will lessen the need for the pipeline
partners to secure aluminum concern
Comalco Ltd. (A.CMC) as a foundation
customer.
"Comalco believe they are pivotal to our
project. We are working very hard and have
had substantial success in removing their
pivotal position," Botten told reporters after
addressing a Papua New Guinea mining and
petroleum conference in Sydney.
Comalco is deciding whether to site a A$1
billion alumina refinery at Gladstone in north
Queensland or in Malaysia. If based in
Queensland the refinery would provide the
pipeline project with substantial base demand
of about 27 petajoules a year, Botten said.
Comalco has long been weighing up its
decision but Botten said the pipeline partners
are running out of time. They must commit to
a marine study in the next few weeks and
negotiate terms between themselves for the
integration of the various partners' natural
gas reserves from fields in Papua New Guinea
into a single supply pool.
"We are definitely ahead of our competitors
now but given uncertainty, and any length of
uncertainty, the project may well disappear
for a long period of time," Botten said.
Apart from Papua New Guinea-based oil and
gas company Oil Search, other partners in
the 2,600 kilometer pipeline project are
Chevron Corp. (CHV), Mitsubishi Oil Co.
(J.MBO or 5004), Mobil Corp. (MOB), Orogen
Minerals Ltd., and Petroleum Resources
Kutubu Pty. Ltd. |
