Tuesday, April 17, 2012

PNG LNG project on target

By MALUM NALU
Esso Highlands Ltd managing director Peter Graham says the PNG LNG project is on target to start exporting in 2014, despite the many associated problems.
Graham said this during a meeting with senior editorial staff of The National yesterday (Monday), where he gave an update of the project.

Esso Highlands managing director Peter Arnold (right), media advisor Rebecca Arnold and public and government affairs manager Kenneth Freeman.

He said the project was of enormous proportions and the world was watching developments in PNG with interest.
“It’s a big project and it’s very important,” Graham said.
“It means a whole lot more people around the world are watching.
“We’re the biggest development in Papua New Guinea’s history.”
The project is well into accomplishing many components after two years in the construction phase.
The 3.2km long Komo airfield - which will be longer than Port Moresby’s 2.8km long Jackson Airport - has now completed 50% of earthworks to lay the foundation, with the runway aggregate base course pavement commencing.
Graham said installation of the first foundations for the terminal building had also commenced.
“That needs to be completed by the end of this year,” he said,
The completion of Komo would allow the Hides gas conditioning plant to complete construction.
The Komo airfield would be used to transport huge pieces of equipment to complete the conditioning plant.
Gas from Hides and Angore in Southern Highlands, and Juha in Western province, would be piped more than 700km to Port Moresby for export.
Graham said more than 100km of 300km of the onshore pipeline between the gas fields and Kopi in Gulf province had been completed, while laying of the 400km offshore pipeline between Kopi and Port Moresby was proceeding “very fast”.
The massive liquefaction and storage facility site outside Port Moresby is also on target and on track to be completed in early 2014, in time for first exports later that year.
Graham admitted that the project was one of the most-difficult Exxon Mobil had carried out internationally.
“Papua New Guinea is difficult in that the infrastructure is very challenging in most parts of the country,” he said.
“It’s more isolated, it’s more challenging.”

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