Mine Details
Kutubu
http://www.oilsearch.com
crude-oilCamp, FiFo
Phone:
Address:
Cuthberton Street, Port Moresby, PNG,
State: Cuthberton Street, Port Moresby, PNG,
Email:
The Kutubu oil field, located in the Papua New Guinea Southern Highlands about 550 kilometres north west of Port Moresby, near Lake Kutubu, was the first commercial oilfield to be developed in the country. Oil was discovered to be present in the area's Iagifu sandstone structures in 1986. This led to Papua New Guinea's first commercial production of oil coming from the Kutubu field in June 1992. The field is located near Lake Kutubu.
Kutubu oil is Taken to the Coast Along a 265 Kilometre Pipeline
Kutubu oil production today comes from three oil fields; the Agogo, Usano and Iagifu-Hedinia fields. All of which comprise a network of wells that produce crude oil that is centrally processed on-site at the Central Processing and Agogo plants. The system also includes a 265 kilometre long export pipeline that takes the oil from the procesing facilities to a marine loading terminal on the coast of the Gulf of Papua. Both the oilfield and the pipeline operate under licences that were issued in 1990 for 25 years. Both licences were extended to December, 2035, in 2009.
Kutubu oil is Marketed as the Kutubu Blend
Kutubu oil production is now well in decline due to natural reservoir depletion but effort over past years to slow down production decline has been very successful and additional production has resulted from the successful drilling of extra production wells at Kutubu, Agogo and Usano. The Kutubu oil field therefore remains a strong contributor to its joint venture partners profitability following its peak production year of 1993 when it produced 130,000 barrels of oil a day. The major oil reserves are now located in the Toro and Digimu sandstones with lower volumes in the Hedinia anf Iagifu reservoirs. The oil from the Kutubu field is marketed with oil taken from the Moran and Gobe fields and known as the 'Kutubu Blend.'
Oil Search (PNG) Limited is the Operator of the Kutubu oil Field
The Kutubu oil field is operated by Oil Search (PNG) Limited on behalf of the joint venture partners that comprise; Oil Search (PNG) Limited with an interest of 60.05 percent, Merlin Petroleum Company with 18.69 percent, ExxonMobile, through its subsidiary Ampolex (PNG Petroleum) and Merlin Pacific Oil Company with 14.52 percent interest and Petroleum Resources (Kutubu) Limited with 6.75 percent.
Since the Kutubu oil field began production in 1991 it has produced around 246 million barrels from an expected recovery of around 300 million barrels. The field now contains a total of 46 oil wells that have been drilled for oil production, seven gas lift wells and three gas injection wells. There is an average of 25 wells producing oil daily.
Oil Production in Papua New Guinea is a Difficult Challenge
It has been a difficult challenge to establish an oil production industry in Papua New Guinea because of its naturally hostile geography. Much has been achieved with the development of the trail blazer success of the Kutubu field. As a result petroleum production is now occurring from three facilities, one at Kutubu that produces 128,000 barrels a day and another two at Gobe and Agogo that produce 50,000 and 30,000 a day respectively.
The main shareholder and operator of the Kutubu oil field, Oil Search (PNG) Limited, is an oil and gas exploration and development organisation that has been active in Papua New Guinea since 1929. Most of its assets are still in Papua New Guinea where it has an extensive portfolio of oil and gas exploration and production licences. Oil Search (PNG) Limited currently operate all of Papua New Guinea's producing gas and oil fields.
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