Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL) will know by May this year the viability of the Western Pipeline if it is ready to go ahead.
KPHL Managing Director, Wapu Sonks, says the Pre-liminary Front End Engineering Dsign (Pre-FEED) is expected to be concluded in May and will determine the viability technical and economic viability of moving ahead with the gas reserve aggregation project.
In his address during day one of the Inaugural Petroleum & Energy Summit in Port Moresby, Sonk said, so far KPHL has carried out several activities to prepare for the proposed pipeline.
They include:
- The completion of a multi-faceted concept study which clearly establish that the strand gas reserves are there;
- the aggregation of the stranded gas reserves by pipeline;
- the possibility of off-takers both domestic and for export;
- Seven different configurations of pipelines and routes, and one preferred concept;
- The creation of an internal project team to oversee project;
- The appointment of an advisory team consisting of technical and engineering experts; and
- A master service agreement;
Sonk highlighted that additional gas reserves could be used for domestic power generation which is in line with the country’s vision of providing electricity to 70 per cent of the country.
He also said KPHL is confident there is also a downstream market that could be developed from the pipeline.
The Western Pipeline aims to aggregate all the gas fields in the province into a single pipeline that will run all the way to Port Moresby.
The gas fields include P’nyang, Stanley, Ketu, Elevala, Ubuntu, Puk Puk, Douglas and Kemu.
The preposition is expected to have the potential to underpin all manner of gas commercialization.