Second commercial

oil field for PNG?

A SUBSTANTIAL oil discovery has been made in the Papuan Fold belt in Papua New Guinea.

Early tests on a wildcat well, southeast Gobe 1 in PPL 56, showed a daily flow of 3600 barrels a day. The area in which the oil was found was part of a geological trend which contains the rich lagifu and Hedinia fields further to the north west.

Apart from the impressive flow rate, the discovery is important because it is the first significant oil find outside the neighbouring PPL 100 lease since the late 19505, and is a major petroleum find by a group not including a large multinational oil company.

The companies involved in what could become Papua New Guinea’s second commercial field are the Australian junior explorer Command Petroleum NL (20 per cent, an operator), MIM Hold ings Ltd (15 per cent), Base Resources Ltd (7 per cent), Nomenco PNG Oil Co (5 per cent), Mountains West Explo ration Inc (2.5 per cent) and a Japanese consortium, Southern Highlands Pet roleum Co Ltd, with 50.5 per cent.

The companies are hoping that suf ficient reserves will be proved up to allow production to begin in late 1992, al though more drilling will be needed before reserves figures can be estimated.

However, it appears certain that south east Gobe will contain at least tens of millions of barrels. Early development of the field is possible only because of infrastructure being developed for the Kutuba oil field in PPL 100, as the new discovery is less than 20km from the proposed pipeline. The southeast Gobe structure extends into PPL 100 where the US multinational Chevron Oil is leading the development consortium. The Kutubu consortium probably will drill their own section of the structure and may arrange a joint venture. □