Australian energy group Santos has signed a binding letter of intent to acquire a 14.3% stake in Petroleum Retention Licence 3 (PRL 3), which contains the P’nyang gas field in Papua New Guinea. The field has certified gross 2C contingent resources of around 4.4 tcf (125 bcm) of natural gas (about 0.62 tcf or 17.5 bcm net to Santos pre-government back-in). Those gas resources are crucial for the expansion of the 6.9 Mt/year PNG LNG plant, where a third liquefaction train rated 2.7 Mt/year is under consideration.
The execution of a sale and purchase agreement will depend on a agreement between the parties on entry into FEED for the PNG LNG plant expansion. Participants in PRL 3 include ExxonMobil (48.99%), Oil Search (38.51%) and Merlin Petroleum (JX Nippon group, 12.5%). After Santos' 12.5% farm-in, their respective shares will be cut to 36.86% each for ExxonMobil and Oil Search and to 11.96% for Merlin Petroleum.
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