Twinza Farms Out Half of Pasca A Project in Papua New Guinea

Source: Rigzone
Twinza Oil (PNG) Ltd. has agreed to take in Mineral Resources Development Co. Ltd. (MRDC) as a 50 percent co-venturer in its fully owned Pasca A field development project offshore Papua New Guinea.
Simultaneously, Perth-based Twinza and Port Moresby-based MRDC also agreed to collaborate in acquiring and operating oil and gas assets in Papua New Guinea.
"The Agreements, including a Joint Operating Agreement, will become fully effective upon, among other conditions, receipt of PNG Independent Consumer & Competition Commission approval and the execution of a satisfactory Gas Agreement for the Pasca-A Project", a joint statement said. "MRDC may purchase up to a 50 percent Participating Interest in Twinza's Pasca-A Assets, with Twinza remaining the Pasca-A Project Operator".
Twinza recently raised the total resource size of Pasca A by 35 percent compared to 2018 estimates. Updated estimates by GaffneyCline put contingent resources at 167 million barrels of oil equivalent in the best estimate scenario.
"This increase reflects improved reservoir characteristics confirmed by a combination of advanced core analysis, drilling data, log interpretation, correlation with reprocessed 3D seismic and completion of a comprehensive dynamic production model which brought all this additional information together", Twinza said in a separate statement.
Twinza executive chair Stephen Quantrill said in comments for the farm-out deal with MRDC, "Pasca A, when operational, is expected to generate more than K500 million [$129.4 million] per year to the PNG State, generate around 500 permanent jobs and bring significant US Dollars of foreign currency into the PNG economy".
"Twinza stands ready to proceed with Pasca Phase 1 FEED as soon as the Pasca Gas Agreement is executed and the Project Development License is awarded", Quantrill added.
Twinza has been negotiating for a gas agreement since 2020, according to the company. It acquired the field 2011, applied for a Petroleum Development License 2015 and completed drilling a new appraisal well 2018. Pasca A had been discovered decades earlier before Twinza's involvement.
Prime Minister James Marape said, "I welcome the transaction between MRDC and Twinza to develop the Pasca A asset and to work together on a number of other exciting opportunities in the Gulf of Papua region and the country".
"Pasca is one of our government's priority major energy projects in PNG", the premier added.
MRDC managing director Augustine Mano said MRDC's entry into Pasca A "represents another important stepping stone in MRDC's evolution towards a more engaged and active asset owner and manager".
Besides exploiting gas, Twinza also plans to use the field for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. A study it commissioned for the potential of Pasca A for CO2 storage, also conducted by GaffneyCline, "validated a storable quantity of more than 50 million tonnes of CO2 in the gas cap section of the reservoir and an additional potential of more than 150 million tonnes in the aquifer directly below the gas water contact", Twinza said.
"Although Twinza has no immediate plans to utilize the capability, it represents an opportunity to dispose of emissions from proximate regional projects or to potentially work towards a world scale Carbon Capture and Storage project at the Pasca field location", Twinza added.
Quantrill said, "The carbon sequestration opportunity is one which offers the potential for the Pasca field to be carbon neutral, and in fact carbon negative over its full life cycle".
"Although no carbon dioxide source for sequestration at Pasca has yet been identified, the quantifying and certifying of this opportunity provides the foundation information required for the potential development of the Pasca reservoir for carbon sequestration, in support of the world's objectives for 2050 net emission targets", Quantrill added.