Total to assume ownership of Petroleum Retention License 15

InterOil Corp. and Total E&P PNG Ltd have reached an agreement that Total will become operator of Petroleum Retention License 15 (PRL 15) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea from 1 August 2015.

InterOil recently announced that the PRL 15 Joint Venture, which is developing the Elk-Antelope gas discovery as the Papua LNG Project, had unanimously appointed Total as the operator, subject to an agreed transition plan.

Under the Operator Transition Agreement, InterOil will continue to provide certain technical services for Total until the end of 2015. The company will also continue to operate its remaining retention and exploration licenses in Papua New Guinea, as well as drill the Antelope-4 sidetrack well. Total will then operate the Antelope-6 well. 

InterOil Chief Executive, Dr Michael Hession, said of the agreement: “We now look forward to Total bringing its global LNG experience and resources to Elk-Antelope to develop what we anticipate will be the world's lowest cost new-build LNG project […] This represents an important milestone for the Papua LNG Project as the Joint Venture continues to drive towards the earliest practical development of the Elk-Antelope resource.”

Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/31072015/total-to-assume-ownership-of-petroleum-retention-license-15-1089/