Spanish firm Repsol SA will sell its exploration and development permits in Papua New Guinea to Chinese company Balang International. Repsol has not disclosed the transaction amount.
The nine permits—four exploration and five development—have been in Repsol’s portfolio since 2015.
They include 25% of offshore retention license PRL 38, which contains the Pandora gas fields in the Gulf of Papua, along with 35.1% in the Elevala-Ketu gas-condensate fields in retention license PRL 21, and the Stanley gas fields in nearby development license PDL 10.
Repsol acquired the assets as part of the package when it bought Talisman Energy Inc. for $13 billion in late 2014.
Repsol said the business in Papua New Guinea will continue to be operated by Repsol until the transaction is completed during this year’s fourth quarter.
Balang is part of the China Changcheng Natural Gas Power Group, which has investments in natural gas and power across China and the Asia Pacific region.
Balang Chairman Dai Ying Xiang said his company is committed to the development of the discovered resources within the permits which have the potential to foster and supply a new Papua New Guinea LNG project.
Development could include contributing gas to the proposed 1.5 million-tonne/year Western LNG project, which involves a processing facility near Daru Island on the coast near the mouth of the Fly River.