More problems for Oil Search, Santos, Exxon Mobil, Total and a host of smaller local companies with mining and exploration operations in the southwestern highlands of Papua New Guinea with another big earthquake reported from the region at the weekend.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said a 6.3 magnitude quake had struck the highlands of Papua New Guinea, two months after the even larger 7.5 quake badly damaged the region and saw the shutdown the $US19 billion PNG LNG plant.
Any further damage to gas producing and gathering facilities in the highlands could be a blow to Santos which has a stake in the LNG project, and is facing a $13.5 billion takeover approach.
The quake was 82 kilometres southwest of Porgera in Enga province and 47 km deep, said the USGS. The earlier, larger earthquake struck the same highlands area, killing 125 people and leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
February’s quake also damaged mining and power infrastructure and led ExxonMobil Corp to shut its $US19 billion liquefied natural gas, PNG’s biggest export earner.
Miners Barrick Gold Corp and Ok Tedi Mining also reported damage to infrastructure in the February quake. Some of the resource companies in the region, such as Oil Search, are still about eight weeks away from full operations. Oil production at the Gobe field has returned to normal.
The companies are now checking to see if this second quake has caused further damage to the oil and gas fields and the pipelines that supply the LNG plant.
