Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), announced an agreement with Twinza Oil to provide fullstream support on the Pasca A gas condensate field, which is located in the Gulf of Papua off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Pasca is the first offshore oil and gas development in PNG that will produce natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the form of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—and covers services and equipment during Phase I of the field's development. This includes drilling services, wellheads, and pressure control equipment for the final appraisal well.
The appraisal well, scheduled for drilling in 3Q 2017, will be suspended as a future development well and the final investment decision (FID) to proceed to development is expected in 2018. Post-FID, BHGE expects to provide an integrated gas processing solution from the wells through to the point of export. The company’s gas processing technologies cover industrial gases, separation, scrubbing, and small-scale liquefied natural gas. The processing skids will be constructed in modules and delivered to the platform in a “plug and play” format, which should reduce construction time and interface risk.
“Having a single point of contact and a complete offering for a complex project was one of the key reasons why we partnered with BHGE,” said Twinza CEO Huw Evans. “BHGE was able to propose a fully integrated services and equipment offering using a modular state-of-the-art approach, high-tech solutions, and systems that ‘talk’ to each other for optimization. This greatly synergizes the execution of the project.”
Twinza holds 100% of the Pasca A license and has submitted a development plan for the field that will produce the resource across two phases. Phase I is expected to produce 14,000 B/D of NGL, and Phase II covers the export of dry gas. While the agreement only formally covers Phase I of the project, Philip Solomon, business development director at BHGE Asia Pacific, said that BHGE is prepared to assist with Phase II should those discussions come up.
“We see ourselves as partners to Twinza in helping them realize their project,” Solomon said. “While it is not formally part of the agreement, much work has already focused on being ready to commence Phase II at the appropriate time.”
In a release discussing the deal, BHGE said the project is expected to spur development of relevant offshore skills and services in PNG and should provide a “significant” boost to the country’s economy by providing government revenues and utilizing local content.
“Papua New Guinea is an emerging oil and gas province and it has had terrific onshore success over the last decade,” Solomon said. “This is a priority for us, but developing a sustainable fuel supply is the first step. The offshore holds great promise and we see our role in developing the necessary skills and facilities as our contribution to a sustainable offshore oil and gas sector.”