Southern Highlands Province, 80 kilometres north-west of Kutubu
PDL 1
Oil Search owns 16.6% of PDL-1 and owns 100% of the Gas to Electricity Project
Oil Search Limited
Hides GTE project: 65.2 bscf plus 1.5 million barrels condensate
The Hides gas field, located in PDL 1, was discovered in 1987. It is a large anticlinal structure, approximately 30 kilometres long and five kilometres wide. Four wells have been drilled on the structure to date.
Gas production commenced in 1991 with the development of the Hides Gas to Electricity Project (GTE). The Hides GTE project consists of a pipeline (PL 1) connecting the Hides-1 and Hides-2 wells to a small gas conditioning plant at the Hides Production Facility (HPF) located in the Tagari River valley. Sales gas is then used by the Porgera Joint Venture to generate electricity in an adjacent facility. The electricity is transmitted to the Porgera Gold Mine by overhead wire. Condensate produced along with the gas is distilled into naphtha and diesel which is sold into local markets and used as back-up fuel for the power station. Oil Search owns 100% of the GTE project and is operator. The gas is sold under a gas supply contract, which expires in October 2011, but is likely to be extended, in line with the Porgera mine life.
The Hides field contains proved plus probable remaining reserves of approximately 5.9 tcf of sales gas in the Toro and Imburu sands, plus 135 million barrels of field condensate and 14 million barrels of plant condensate. Up to the end of 2009, approximately 82 bcf had been produced under the Hides GTE project. As at 31 December 2009, the reserves attributable to the Hides GTE Project (Oil Search - 100%) are 65.2 bscf and 1.5 million barrels of condensate. The remaining volumes are committed to the PNG LNG Project.
2010 first quarter production of sales gas for the Hides Gas to Electricity Project was 1.43 billion cubic feet, produced at an average daily production rate of 15.9 million cubic feet per day. This compares to 14.3 million cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter of 2009. 35,000 barrels of condensate were produced for use within the Hides facility and for local sales.