Western LNG studies move into next phase

Some positive press and details of WLNG from the 3rd May.  Details consistent with what we know except first time I have seen a timeline for FID in a while - stated as 2019 below.  That's not far away!

Western LNG studies move into next phase

Co-owners of planned PNG development moving forward after completing pre-FEED
Russell Searancke
3 May 2018 23:00 GMT
The co-owners of the planned Western liquefied natural gas development in Papua New Guinea are moving into the next phase of work having recently completed pre-front-end engineering and design, writes Russell Searancke.
The main project proponent is Australian independent Horizon Oil, which owns about 28% of the gas resource that is contemplated for Western LNG.
A variety of fields — Stanley, Elevala-Ketu, Ubuntu, Puk Puk and Douglas — are among the proposed sources of feedstock gas.
Repsol owns 41% of the gas resource, Osaka Gas has 14% and smaller companies have the remaining 17%.
The development concept is a floating LNG vessel to be located in shallow water near Daru Island, with capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.
An onshore pipeline of 500 kilometres in length would connect the fields in Western Province to the LNG vessel.
Horizon said recently that offshore site investigation work will begin in the second quarter this year.
The pre-FEED contractors, one of which was TechnipFMC, have recently completed work on the three key elements — upstream gas processing, export pipelines and the LNG facility.
Horizon said in its latest quarterly results that its efforts to commercialise its Western Province gas was happening “in an environment of strengthening investor confidence in PNG as a favourable LNG development jurisdiction” given the progress being made by ExxonMobil, Total and others with the PNG LNG expansion and the Papua LNG development.
The PNG government has reportedly released a draft of a new Natural Gas Policy White Paper, which contains several key elements, including a domestic market obligation, third-party access for pipelines, and local content obligations.
Horizon said the draft has been approved by PNG’s National Executive Council, and that based on government statements, provisions like third-party pipeline access will apply to the development of all new gas projects.
“This may lead to the developers of fields such as Elevala-Ketu, Stanley and Ubuntu having access to existing gas and liquids pipelines, potentially providing a lower capital cost development alternative to the standalone Western LNG project,” said Horizon.
The Western LNG project is targeting basis of design and FEED in 2018/19 and a final investment decision in 2019.
However, there are still question marks about the future of Repsol in PNG.

http://www.upstreamonline.com/hardc...rce=free_article_access&utm_content=208117694