PETROMIN GROUP OF COMPANIES
Eda Oil Limited
Eda Oil Equity in the Moran Oil Project
The Moran field straddles 3 licences – PDL2, PDL5 and PDL6 which was granted
on 30 April 2008 over the NW Moran block 1933 (former PPL219).
The Central Moran field is a unitized pool presently comprising PDL2 and PDL5 portions of the Moran field operated by Oil Search and ExxonMobil respectively. Equity split is 45:55 to PDL2 and PDL5.
Current JV partners in the Moran Unit are: JV Partners in PDL2/PDL5 (45/55) Ownership %
- Oil Search (PNG) Ltd 49.40 %
- Ampolex (PNG Petroleum) Inc & Merlin Pacific Oil Company Ltd 26.78 %
- Eda Oil Ltd 11.28 %
- AGL Gas Developments (PNG) Pty Ltd 5.36 %
- Merlin Petroleum Company 3.05 %
- Petroleum Resources Kutubu Ltd 3.03 %
- Petroleum Resources Moran Ltd 1.10 %
Petromin PNG Holdings Limited through Eda Oil Limited holds 20.5% interest in PDL5 with the option of taking up a further 20.5% interest in NW Moran currently being evaluated.
Acquisition of the 20.5% interest in PDL5 was a result of the transfer of Eda Oil Limited that was successfully concluded with Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) in August 2007.
Oil was initially discovered within the PDL2 portion of the Moran field in 1996 and subsequently brought on production via Extended Production Test (EPT) in 1998 with production from Moran 1, 2 and 5 wells. Drilling of Moran 4 confirmed the northwest extent of the Moran field in block 1934 (former PPL138).
As part of appraisal activities of the Moran field, Moran 4 was added to the EPT in March 2000 followed by the grant of PDL5 over block 1934 in February 2001.
Drilling of NW Moran 1 in 2003 confirmed oil in block 1933 within PPL219. EPT production from this well commenced in September 2005 via a 23km pipeline from NW Moran 1 to the Agogo Processing Facilities. The Central Moran Unit Agreement by the PDL2 and PDL5 parties in March 2001 led to integrated development of the Central Moran field in September 2002.
PDL6 over NW Moran was subsequently granted in April 2008. However, it was deemed uneconomic for Eda Oil to take up the State’s 20.5% interest in PDL6.
Tolukuma Gold Mines Limited
The Tolukuma Gold Mine is located in Papua New Guinea, 100km north of Port Moresby, on the Owen Stanley Range at an elevation of 1,550 meters. It is comprised of a small open pit, but largely an undergrounds mine, containg high grade, narrow epithermal veins. It has been operating since 1995 with a history of successful reserve extensions.
Tolukuma has eleven Exploration License Tenements (‘EL’) and Mining Lease (ML) 104. The ML 104 covers an area of approximately 8km2 whilst the eleven EL’s cover over 8,000 km2 located with a 40 minutes flying radius of the mine site.
The Tolukuma deposit is compromised of two sub-parallel structures that are connected by a series of linked structures trending generally northwest - south east. Individual quartz veins average 0.2m to 2.0m in width over a strike length of more than 1.4km. Likewise the Zine and 120 veins located approximately 250m to the east, have similar geological features.
These are connected by a series of linked structures trending generally northwest –southeast direction.
Mining is carried out within these veins in five sections that have different geological characteristics, Major zones include, from the north to south, Tolukuma, Zine, Tolimi, Tinabar and Gulbadi, The Gulbadi zone includes the Gulbadi and Gulbadi C veins, Clay zones of variable width are located in the intersections on two or more structures.
Open pit production began in 1995 and underground mining in mid-1997. The mine is a low capacity, high-grade operation and employs 630 people, including 130 contractors.
The current production, by tonnage, is sourced approximately 92 percent from underground mining and 8 percent from open pit mining. All open pit and underground mining is conducted using mining plant and equipment owned by TGM. Access to the underground workings is via declines. Mining is by the conventional uphole benching method with backfill.
The metallurgical plant is compact and follows conventional gold extraction technology. It is located on a steep ridge in very mountainous terrain.
As the Tolukuma mine is situated in a remote area, it is self sufficient with regard to the generation of power. Power is generated through a combination of diesel driven generator sets and hydro-turbine driven generator sets. Three hydro units are installed, currently capable of generating up to 1.5 MW of power. Three hydro units are dependant on the supply of adequate water. These generators supply 32,000 volts via overhead lines to the mine, where it is transformed down to 6,600 volts, 1,000 volts or 525 volts, depending on the requirement. Any shortfall from the hydro units is made up by the diesel units (a total of 3.2 MW of diesel generating power is installed).
Tolukuma’s gold production was 44,181 oz for the year to 30 June 2007; 54, 790 oz for the year 30 June 2006; 76, 314 oz in 2005 and 85, 715 in 2004. According to Emperor Mines, Tolukuma’s reserves and resources (as at 30 June 2007) were:
● Reserves – 0.137 Moz
● Resources – 0.410 Moz
Petromin PNG Holdings acquired 100 percent of the Tolukuma Gold Mine from Emperor Mines on the 6th February, 2008.
EDA MINERALS LIMITED
Eda Minerals Limited is the holding company for all of Petromin's Mining and Exploration interests, with the exception of Tolukuma Gold Mines Ltd.
PETROMIN GAS LIMITED
Petromin Gas Limited is the parent company of Eda LNG Limited. Eda LNG Limited is the special purpose vehicle through which Petromin will participate in the proposed PPL 238 LNG project.
Eda LNG Limited
Eda LNG Limited is a JV partner in the ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG Project and owns 0.244% interest in the project. Estimated to cost over US$10 billion, the PNG LNG Project will involve producing 960mmscf/d from assigned gas fields comprising Kutubu, Gobe, Moran, Hides and Juha. The gas will be transported to a gas treatment or liquefaction plant near Port Moresby for processing and export to overseas markets.
Since the signing of the Gas Agreement on 22 May 2008 between the Project JV participants and the State, the project has been progressed to the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) stage. Final Investment Decision (FID) is expected in 2010 with first cargo by early 2014.