Page 9 - GLNG Week 27

GLNG austRalasIa GLNG
PNG review of LNG agreement due in July
PolICy
pApUA New Guinea’s (pNG) government will nish its review of the papua LNG agreement before the end of July, petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua has said.
The internal inquiry into the papua LNG project is focusing on two areas, the Australian Financial Review quoted Kua as saying on July 8, who added that it would be wrapped up within two to three weeks.
“Number one is to ensure that all the legal requirements have been fully satis ed and sec- ondly, that the potential revenue for the state has been maximised in the agreement,” he said. “ ese are simple processes and we expect to complete it quite quickly. e state will evaluate what position it will take and if the matter is to progress, it will progress and we will put all our weight behind it. If there are going to be other options, then those options will be considered.”
Kua, who was appointed to his position on June 6, has been a vocal critic of the deal the for- mer government signed in April with Oil Search, Total and state-owned Kumul petroleum for the development of the Elk-Antelope and p’nyang o shore natural gas elds. e two elds will underpin the US$14 billion development of two new 2.7mn tonne per year (tpy) LNG trains at
ExxonMobil’s $19bn pNG LNG project.
Kua told the financial daily that he would
meet key company executives this week.
Once the review of the papua LNG agree- ment is over, the government intends to examine the “entire legislative framework” for the mining
and petroleum sector.
“ ere is a commonly held belief in this coun-
try that papua New Guinea’s people are not getting enough out of these massive resource investment projects,” he said. “part of the reason why the last government was changed and this government was put into place was for this very reason.”
Former prime minister peter O’Neill resigned on May 26 a er several high-level defections from his party. He said at the time that a change of leadership would allow the country to “con- tinue the reform agenda that we have been delivering”.
Kua added that he expected a commission to be established this month to investigate the $1.2bn loan from UBS the government used to nance its acquisition of 10% in Oil Search. e government eventually sold the stake at an estimated loss of $420mn. pNG prime Minis- ter James Marape has promised to resign if an inquiry nds him guilty of improper conduct.™
EuRoPE
InfraStrata eyes UK FSRU plan
PRojECts & ComPanIEs
LONDON-LISTED gas storage developer Infra- Strata has signed an exclusivity agreement with the Cayman Islands-registered Meridian Hold- ings on an FSRU in the UK. e project would involve the installation of a receiving vessel o - shore Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in the coun- try’s north-west.
is would allow gas to be delivered into the UK via its own interconnection, the company said on July 9. e plant would have 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of capacity. InfraStrata said typ- ical costs on such a project would be GBp250- 400mn ($307-491mn), with construction taking three to four years. e agreement gives the com- pany three months, with possible extensions, to investigate the project’s feasibility. is will give InfraStrata the possibility of an acquisition, but terminates a er 12 months.
Meridian acquired the project in 2012 from Hoegh LNG, striking a 20-year gas sales agree- ment in 2015 with E.ON Global Commodities.
The statement said InfraStrata would seek investors to take equity stakes in a subsidiary, Infra- Strata Energy UK, which would oversee the FSRU work. The plan is for these investors to reduce InfraStrata’s stake in the subsidiary to a minority
before the acquisition of the FSRU project.
“ e UK gas market is witnessing a signi - cant shi in its supply stack and LNG is set to form an important part. As an energy infrastruc- ture company, we are looking at not only build- ing a diverse portfolio of assets but also creating the ability for each asset to complement the oth- ers,” said InfraStrata’s CEO, John Wood. “Such a strategy adds signi cant trading value to our prospective clients who themselves have a port-
folioofenergycontractstomonetise.”
e project has planning permission for the o shore component. e various land parcels and easements for onshore equipment and pipelines
have also been acquired or have options on them. If the deal goes ahead, InfraStrata would issue 25mn new shares to Meridian on the agreement of a term sheet. Should the project reach nal investment decision (FID), another 75mn shares would be issued. On completion of the acquisi- tion, the buyer would pay cash of more than the
value of the 100mn shares.
e move into the FSRU space complements
InfraStrata’s Islandmagee gas storage project, which is based in Northern Ireland. is would have capacity to store 500mn cubic metres.™
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