Repairs needed at Papua New Guinea LNG project after quake

Oil Search and Santos say it will take about eight weeks to restore production at their quake-damaged LNG project in PNG.

LNG is loaded onto a tanker near Port Moresby.

Oil Search and Santos say it will take about eight weeks to repair and restore production at their earthquake-damaged liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea.

Oil Search, which has donated $US5 million to disaster relief following last week’s magnitude-7.5 quake in the country’s highlands, says it will revise its production guidance and estimate the likely earnings hit when it can.

ASX-listed energy explorers and producers Oil Search and Santos between them own 42.5 per cent of the ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG Project.

Exxon and its partners halted both production lines at its LNG operation outside Port Moresby after shutting a gas-conditioning plant in the Highlands region where the magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck.

“We have assembled a team of technical experts from ExxonMobil’s global workforce to help the local team complete damage evaluations and restore production,” Andrew Barry, managing director of ExxonMobil PNG, said.

Mr Barry said work at the Hides Gas Conditioning Plant has turned to restoring the camp and associated facilities. Initial visual inspections suggest the major processing equipment at the site hasn’t been significantly damaged, ExxonMobil said in a statement.

Gas, condensate and water are separated at the Hides plant before being piped to other facilities. The gas is transported along a pipeline to the LNG plant near Port Moresby, where is it is chilled to a liquid for shipping.

The Komo airfield, built to bring equipment and workers to the Hides plant, remains closed. “Options are being developed to return the airfield to service as soon as possible,” ExxonMobil said.

AAP, Dow Jones Newswires