​Oil Search Ltd and Santos Ltd said on Friday they have been advised by ExxonMobil Corp that liquefied natural gas (LNG) production has resumed at the PNG LNG project in Papua New Guinea after being halted following a severe earthquake in February.
 
LNG exports are expected to resume soon, they said.
 
The Australian energy companies said one train at the LNG plant near Port Moresby has started operations and the second train is expected to start up as gas production ramps up.

​The PNG LNG pipeline is intact and suffered “no leakage” during the earthquakes, says Oil Search managing director Peter Botten.
He was commenting on how Oil Search was managing risks of environmental damage which could have occurred in its facilities and the PNG LNG project as a whole.
“I am pleased to say that from reports that we have had from the LNG facilities, the statement from ExxonMobil and also I know that our own production facilities have maintained integrity throughout and also the aftershocks,” Botten said.
“We have not seen any evidence of leaks or any environmental impacts from a loss of integrity of our plant.
“That is a very positive sign. We monitor and can see the pressure for each well and along the pipeline and there does not appear to be any leakage at all.”
He told The National that most damage was at the company’s camps which had delayed reconstruction.
“The actual plant site and facilities have been designed for substantial earthquakes as part of the criteria for when we build things,” he said.
“Ironically, the big damage has been in the camps where a lot of the camp material and facilities have been damaged. Of course you need people in the camps to rebuild and to also rebuild the camps themselves.
“We had originally on 24 worksites seismic activity right up on the Western-Hela border right down to Kopi where we had just under 3000 people working in our various facilities and camps.
“We had that down to 350 or so but now we have brought that up to 650 and maybe a few more today.” The National/PNGfacts

​AIR Niugini will be changing some of its flight schedules to improve reliability and ensure convenience for the public.
The multi-sector flights on the domestic network will be suspended and replaced from Sunday with additional direct services.
The change is aligned with traditionally low season and crew limitations in the airline’s operations, says Air Niugini chief executive Simon Foo.
“As we enter a traditionally low period and continue to take steps to address crewing issue, we are confident the change in the flight schedule will ensure reliability and consistency with the remaining flights,” he said.
Suspended will be the multi-sector flights POM/Lae/Hoskins/Rabaul, POM/Madang/Wewak, POM/Lae/Manus/Lae/POM, POM/Madang/Manus/Madang/POM and POM/Kavieng/Manus/Kavieng.
However, Air Niugini has introduced additional direct services to cater for the change in the flights.
There will be additional direct services between Port Moresby and Lae, making it four daily flights.
The number of flights to Vanimo via Wewak will be increased to four while Vanimo via Madang will be suspended. Direct services to Hoskins will be increased to two – except for Monday and Friday – while schedule for remaining ports is largely unchanged.
On the international sector, the Cairns morning flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will be upgraded to a Boeing 737 aircraft.

​PNG Air has opened lounges in Lae and Mt Hagen to cater for its corporate and frequent travellers.
PNG Air chief commercial officer Paul Abbot said similar facilities would be provided at other airports to make travelling
more convenient for their customers. “With the support of the National Airports Corporation, we have opened the connections lounges in Mt Hagen and Lae primarily to cater for our corporate and frequent travellers,” Abbot said. “The Connection Lounge offers light refreshments in a quiet comfortable environment for our travellers prior to boarding their flights.
It’s an ideal place to relax, finish off some last-minute work or catch up with fellow travellers.
“Initially, the lounges are by invite only while we develop the operating procedures required to fully support our valued customers.
“As we open more lounges, we will then roll out a lounge programme which will allow customers to purchase either single entry visits or annual access.”

​Oil Search has been informed by ExxonMobil PNG Limited, the operator of the PNG LNG Project that it may take approximately eight weeks to repair and restore production from the PNG LNG project, due to damage to the PNG LNG facilities caused by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck the PNG Highlands on 26 February.
In an update report Oil Search stated that following its initial assessment of damage across their oil operations, it appears that there has been minimal impact on the Gobe production facilities and that the liquids export pipeline and offshore facilities are undamaged.
Subject to more detailed inspections, oil production from the Gobe field will likely re-commence in the next one – two weeks.
Damage to Oil Search’s Central Processing Facility is less than feared, with the facility expected to be operational in the next two – three weeks.
As a result, production from the Kutubu field is anticipated to be progressively restored over the coming month, subject to the progress of rehabilitation work now underway on the Oil Search-operated ridge and Moro camps and associated facilities, which is required before the Company’s production workforce can return to site.
Repairs to a number of the control systems, wellpads, flow lines and fire water tank at the Agogo Production Facility (APF) and in the Moran field, the facilities most impacted by the earthquake, will be required prior to production reinstatement from this area.
The timeframe to re-start production through the APF is still being reviewed.
The Oil Search facilities that support the PNG LNG project are expected to be operational ahead of the recommencement of PNG LNG project production.
It states that once it has more clarity on the progress of repair works, both at the PNG LNG facilities and within Oil Search‘s operations, it will provide the market with revised production guidance and the likely impact on Oil Search’s 2018 earnings and capital outlook.
After a visit last week, Oil Search’s managing director Peter Botten said seeing the devastation caused by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake made him realise how fortunate Oil Search was not to have suffered any serious injuries within its workforce.
He said Oil Search staff in the field, supported by personnel in Port Moresby and Sydney did an outstanding job shutting down our wells and facilities safely in very difficult conditions and demobilising more than 600 staff.
“They are now addressing the challenge of re-establishing essential services in our camps and restoring production,”

​HORIZON Oil says the company has recently completed its pre-frontend engineering design (FEED) for the LNG project in Western.
Chief company representative for Papua New Guinea Kelvin Bramley told The National yesterday that the company was now preparing for the next phase of the project.
“Horizon Oil remains focused on progressing its proposed Western LNG development which involves the aggregation of our various Western foreland gas and condensate resources, including the Horizon Oil operated Elevala/Ketu and Ubuntu fields and the Repsol operated Stanley, Puk Puk and Douglas fields,” Bramley said.
“Western LNG will take gas and condensate south via pipeline to a 1.7 to 2.0 million tonnes per annum liquefaction facility off Daru Island.
Horizon Oil has recently concluded its pre-FEED studies on Western LNG and preparations for the next phase are in progress.”
Bramley said the next phase was FEED.
“Our pre-FEED studies have confirmed the overall technical and economic viability of the project,” he said.
“Our focus now is on the integration of the pre-FEED studies and the finalisation of preparations for various onshore and offshore field studies and surveys to confirm the suitability of the selected pipeline route and the liquefaction plant location.
“These investigations are necessary to inform the work that will be conducted during the FEED.
“We expect to initiate FEED in late 2018/early 2019 and this phase will have a duration of approximately 12 months.”
Last July, Horizon Oil had advised that it had increased to about 28 per cent its overall interest in the total certified resources contained in Western foreland fields of
2.0 – 2.5 trillion cubic feet gas and 60 – 70 million barrels of condensate.
The company and partner Repsol now operate all the foundation licences and between them, hold nearly 70 per cent of the total gas resource to be aggregated to underpin the proposed Western LNG project, facilitating the planned multi-licence development in one of the world’s premier locations for LNG developments. The National

Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Exchange rate market was not functioning efficiently as expected, Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani presented at the Leadership Summit last week.
He said this was the reason why the BPNG introduced the trading margin in 2014 that moved in accordance with market fundamentals.
However, Mr Bakani said the exchange rate movements reflect market fundamentals, with the supply of and demand for foreign currency.
“The kina has continued to depreciate over the past three years but at a slower pace as import demand outweighed export receipts due to the low international commodity prices,” Mr Bakani said.
He said the foreign exchange market was not functioning efficiently as expected, hence, the Bank introduced the trading margin in 2014 that moves in accordance with market fundamentals.
“This was followed by a set of directives issued in 2016 and early 2017 to further assist and strengthen the market.”
“In 2017, some improvement in foreign exchange inflows due to an increase in prices of some export commodities resulted in the relative stability to the Kina exchange rate movement in 2017 despite high import orders in the market.”
“In 2017, the kina exchange rate depreciated against the US dollar from 0.3150 as at the 31st December 2016 to 0.3095 in December 31, 2017. It has further depreciated by 10 basis points to 0.3085 in February 2018, He sai

EXXONMOBIL PNG Ltd will work with its customers in the PNG LNG project to ensure the impact of its shutdown is minimised at the project’s plants, a spokesperson says.
A company spokesperson was responding to a query on whether the shutdown of the plants as a result of Monday’s 7.5 magnitude earthquake would affect the supply of gas to suppliers.
“ExxonMobil PNG has confirmed that its facilities, including the Hides gas conditioning plant, the Hides well pads, and the PNG LNG plant, have been shut down while we assess damage to our facilities in the earthquake affected areas,” the spokesperson said. “We are working with our customers to minimise the impact.”
Managing director Andrew Barry told the 2018 Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby on Wednesday that the company was not sure when it would resume operations.
“We have shut down our Hides operations and subsequently shutting the LNG plant to assess what the damage we may have,” Barry said.
“Everything is secure.
“It is uncertain at this time (when to re-start).
“We have got experts from within the country and outside who have come in to assess our equipment.
“Right now, we don’t have all the information around the impacts on the community but we believe it’s extensive.
“Our hearts go out to families and friends of those affected.
“We will be working with the Government and all the agencies to do everything we can to assist in the recovery of the communities that are affected.” The National/PNGfacts

​The people of Papua New Guinea should not be panicked by the alleged report on the media regarding the Anthrax outbreak in Madang early this week.

The National Department of Health has confirmed with the Madang Provincial Health Authorities that Anthrax disease was not an outbreak though it existed among pigs in certain parts on the habitat.

According to World Health Organisation, Anthrax is a disease caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. It is a disease which has existed for hundreds of years and which still occurs naturally in both animals and humans in many parts of the world. In its most common natural form, it creates dark sores on the skin. 

Health Secretary Pasco Kase confirmed reports from his office and he was frustrated over the report as to how one has to post such nonsense causing panic among residents, visitors and tourists in Madang, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

“My office confirms that no human beings in Madang has caught the Anthrax bacteria. We have to be careful with lives of the people when posting about diseases (outbreaks),” Kase warned.

“The health department has the authority to declare outbreaks in the country and not by individuals pressing panic button we deal with sensitive cases seriously as it involves people’s lives,” he said.

He said that the anthrax was common on pigs and did not affect people.
The National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) also expressed similar sentiments.

NAQIA Chief Veterinary Dr Gibasa Asiba stated that “type of anthrax bacteria reported in Karkar (Madang) was common in PNG and affected only pigs, not humans.”

Madang leaders were also frustrated about the posts which resulted in panic among people.

Madang business man and leader Sir Peter Barter called on authorities to investigate and apprehend the person who posted the misleading information.

Land title holders of the Purari SABL in Gulf province have been summoned to surrender the original titles for total cancellation.

Lands Minister Justin Tkatchenko announced this in parliament when questioned on the status of the Purari SABL by Gulf governor Chris Haiveta.

He revealed that the SABL committee found a breach in all procedures on the issuance of the SABL to the Purari Development Association in Baimuru.

“Under section 11, 102 of the lands act which was breached by the PDA the registerer of titles has issued the summons to surrender original titles, owners copy of the potion 8 in the Gulf province for total cancellation “said Tkatchenko.

He said the people of Baimuru will need to do a proper vetting or clan identification process to properly identify who the real land owners are before any titles are given. PNGFM/PNGFACTS