Italy’s Eni SPA has signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea for a long-term partnership to pursue sustainable development of the country’s untouched hydrocarbon resources.
Eni will establish an office in that country to run a detailed exploration study and outline a data acquisition program across all regions in the country that are either not currently under permit or are completely unexplored wildcat areas.
The aim of the program is to better determine the country’s remaining hydrocarbon potential. The data and any subsequent outcome will be the property of Papua New Guinea, while Eni will have first option to identify the areas of interest.
Eni also wants to engage with local communities to look at joint development of oil and gas projects that can be brought on stream in the near term.
Eni says many promising areas remain unexplored, and the potential for huge gas finds means there could be four LNG trains operating in the country under this project.
The company intends to support the creation of a trust fund for future generations and will provide training initiatives to bolster local technical and managerial skills in oil and gas.
