Units of Conoco Inc. and Exxon Corp. have taken a farmout on two licenses covering 8,000 sq km in Papua New Guinea held by an Australian group led by Victoria Petroleum.
The two majors will each acquire a 35% interest in the contiguous PPL106 and PPL117 blocks (see map, OGJ, Mar. 20, 1989, p. 23). Negotiations on the deal surfaced last fall (OGJ, Sept. 11, 1989, Newsletter).
Conoco will act as operator and spud the first wildcat, 1 Tarim, in late February or early March.
Planned drillsite is about 12 1/2 miles south of the OK Tedi copper and gold mine, whose infrastructure will be used in drilling operations.
The farmout will reduce the holdings of Victoria, Trident Petroleum, and First Australian Resources to 10% each.
The three companies will have a carried interest through four wells with any later finance and development costs paid out of production. This will reduce the companies' share of a first commercial discovery to 6.67% each, rising to 8.33% each for a later development.
In other action, Premier Consolidated Oilfields plc spudded the 1 Goaribari wildcat in the western Gulf of Papua with the Dan Duchess drillship. Teikoku Oil Co. of Japan recently acquired a 10% interest in the Goaribari license via farmout.
Premier said discussions are under way with other companies that could lead to further farmouts.
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