Production

Commercial Activities - Licence Interests

Project or Petroleum Development Licence

License Field KPH Interest % Operator
PNGLNG 16.57%ExxonMobil
PDL 1Hides20.50%ExxonMobil
PDL 7Hides20.50%ExxonMobil
PDL 8Angore20.50%ExxonMobil
PDL 9Juha20.50%ExxonMobil
PDL 3SE Gobe21.4%Oil Search
PDL 5Moran11.28%Oil Search
PDL 10Stanley10.00%Arran Energy (Niugini) Limited
NOTES
  1. Kumul Petroleum Holdings has 16.57% interest in the PNGLNG project as the State nominee since its inception in 2009.
    1. 20.50% interest in PDL1 – Hides Field.
    2. 20.50% interest in PDL 7 – Hides Field.
    3. 20.50% interest in PDL 8 – Angore Field.
    4. 20.50% interest in PDL 9 – Juha Field.
    5. 45.72% interest in PDL 3, and 21.4% in the South East Gobe Unit.
    6. 20.50% in PDL5, and 11.28% in the Moran Unit.
  2. Licence transferred from Petromin in 2016.
  3. JX Nippon interest in PDL3, SE Gobe, sold to KPH in June 2017, increasing Kumul Petroleum Holdings interest to 45.72%.
  4. PDL10 added in 2017 as acquisition from Mitsubishi Corporation.

Petroleum Appraisal

KPHL is 100% owner and operator of four petroleum retention licences – PRLs 47, 48, 49 and 50, over the Pandora, Kimu, Barikewa and Uramu petroleum fields.

These licence awards and direct involvement of Kumul Petroleum as operator ensures that these important discovered petroleum reserves are not ‘warehoused’, and potentially remain undeveloped for many years. Kumul Petroleum will ensure that, where feasible, these petroleum discoveries will be progressed towards commercialisation and subsequently provide benefits for landowners and other stakeholders.

In September 2024, KPHL commenced a 79 kilometre seismic programme of over the Barikewa and Kimu fields in PRLs 48 and 49, the work being contracted to national company OilMin. The purpose of this seismic work is to gather additional information on the petroleum resources already discovered in these two licences, to hopefully increase the confirmed volumes of oil and gas they contain, as well as improve further exploration targets. Once KPHL has a better idea of the oil and gas volumes in these licences, the economic feasibility of monetising this resource can be assessed and a development path selected.

In October 2024 KPHL awarded a pre-FEED contract to Shanghai Wison to carry out a pre-FEED feasibility study on an approximately 1.5 mtpa Floating LNG facility, possibly to be sited near the Pandora field, as part of investigations into reserve certification and commercialising stranded gas fields. The pre-FEED study is a necessary step to understand the full scope, cost, schedule, risk and the full economic value before making a decision on moving to FEED and FID. The pre-FEED study is expected to take 8-12 months, leading to entry of FEED thereafter, and FID sometime in 2026 or 2027.

Petroleum Retention Licences

License Field KPH Interest % Operator
PRL 14Iehi, Cobra, Bilip37.44%Oil Search
PRL 28Ubuntu20.00%Arran Energy (Niugini) Limited
PRL 40Pukpuk, Douglas, Langia & Weimang20.00%Arran Energy (Niugini) Limited
PRL 47Pandora100.00%Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited
PRL 48Kimu100.00%Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited
PRL 49Barikewa100.00%Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited
PRL 50Uramu100.00%Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited
NOTES
  1. Kumul Petroleum Holdings acquired Cue Energy assets in PNG in 2014. This included:
    1. 37.44% interest in PRL 14 – Iehi, Cobra & Bilip gas discovery
    2. 14.89% interest in PRL 9 – Barikewa gas discovery
  2. Kumul Petroleum Holdings acquired Mitsubishi Corporation assets in PNG in 2017. This included:
    1. 20.00% interest in PRL28 which contains the Ubuntu gas discovery.
    2. 20.00% interest in PRL40 which contains the Pukpuk, Douglas, Langia & Weimang gas discovery.
  3. Kumul Petroleum Holdings acquired four new assets in PNG in 2021. This included:
    1. 100.00% interest in PRL 47 which contains the Pandora gas discovery.
    2. 100.00% interest in PRL 48 which contains the Kimu gas discovery.
    3. 100.00% interest in PRL 49 which contains the Barikewa gas discovery.
    4. 100.00% interest in PRL 50 which contains the Uramu gas discovery.

Reserves Net to Kumul Petroleum

Oil, Condensate and Gas Reserves Net to Kumul Petroleum

  Oil & Condensate Gas Oil & Condensate Gas
  mmbbl bscf mmbbl bscf
Reserves Category Proven (1P) Proven and Probable (2P)
PNGLNGProject Fields15.411,321.118.171,490.6
PDL 1Hides GTE - -
PDL 3South East Gobe0.019.040.119.04
PDL 5Moran0.9644.341.7948.29
Total16.381,374.4820.071,547.93
NOTES
  1. PNG LNG Project includes Hides, Juha, Angore, and Oil Search operated fields of Kutubu, Agogo, Moran, SE Gobe and Gobe Main, and SE Hedinia. The reserves are as per NSAi Reserves Recertification of June 2016.
  2. Hides GTE reserves are as stated on Oil Search's 2020 Reserves and Resources Statement.
  3. NSAi Reserves Assessment as of December 2016. PDL3 additional interest acquired from JX Nippon in 2017.
  4. NSAi Reserves assessment of 2014 for oil; Moran gas reserves are part of the PNG LNG Project.

Contingent Oil, Condensate and Gas Resources Net to Kumul Petroleum

  Oil & Condensate Gas Oil & Condensate Gas
  mmbbl bscf mmbbl bscf
Reserves Category 1C 2c
PDL 10Stanley1.0131.501.2739.90
PRL 14Cobra, Bilip, lehi0.1211.790.3726.64
PRL 28Ubuntu0.27.140.7120.02
PRL 40Pukpuk, Douglas, Langia & Weimang0.0977.800.13109.40
PRL 47Pandora    
PRL 48Kimu 251 525
PRL 9Barikewa 285 439
PRL 50Uramu    
Total1.42664.232.481,159.96
NOTES
  1. PRL48 (formerly PRL8) added in 2017 as acquisition from Mitsubishi Corporation. Reserves recertification by RISC-2018 post Kimu 2 appraisal well in April 2018
  2. PRL 49 (formerly PRL9) Barikewa reserves recertification by RISC-2018 post Barikewa 3 appraisal well in June 2018
  3. PRL14 reserves are from the Operator, Oil Search Limited; net to KPH
  4. PRL 28 Contingent resource net to KPHL (as per Gaffney Cline report, 2012)
  5. PRL 40 Contingent resource net to KPHL (as per NSAi report, 2015)

Other Business

NIUPOWER LIMITED

KPHL is equal partners with Santos in this company, which established and operates a 58MW gas-fired power station just outside Port Moresby. NiuPower has dispatched electricity into PNG Power’s Port Moresby grid since September 2019, through a dedicated transmission line from the power station to a sub-station in the suburb of Gerehu.

The operation of the NiuPower plant has enabled PNG Power to cease taking electricity from diesel and heavy oil fired generators used in past years to meet peak power demands of the city, resulting in annual savings of over K100 million.

TRAINING & STEEL FABRICATION FACILITY

In preparation for forthcoming LNG developments in the country, KPHL is establishing a world-class heavy steel fabrication facility, capable of manufacturing many of the material building blocks required by large-scale resource development and industrial projects. The facility is on over 60 hectares of land adjacent to the current LNG plant just outside Port Moresby and close to the Motukea international port. The facility will have two main production lines – for structural steel fabrication and pipeline and pipe spools fabrication, and include necessary large laydown areas for materials and assembly. Site work on the facility construction started in March 2024. It represents a foundation activity for an industrial Special Economic Zone soon to be declared in the Caution Bay area.

Site work underway at the large site for the training and fabrication facility in the Caution Bay area (PNG LNG Plant site in the background)