Project Profile
Location: Petroleum Development Licence - PDL-2, PDL-5 and PDL 6, PNG
Reserves: 7.0 million barrels, 2P Reserves=10.6 million barrels (end 2016)
Production: 1.6 million barrels (2016)
Start-up Year: 4Q 2002
The Greater Moran Oil Project is located in the Southern Highlands Province, 570 kilometres north-west of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The Moran field straddles Petroleum Development Licences: PDL-2, PDL-5 and PDL 6.
The first Moran well was drilled in June 1996 and oil was discovered in September 1996 when the Moran 1X well sidetrack, which is located within PDL 2 (the licence area hosting the Kutubu Oil Project) encountered oil-bearing sands. Production commenced from the field in January 1998 by way of an Extended Well Test (EWT) programme, producing oil from the Moran 1X, 2X and 5 wells, all of which are located within PDL 2. An EWT on Moran 4 located in PDL 5 (PPL 138) commenced production in April 2000. In March 2001, the Central Moran Unit Agreement between the PDL 2 and PDL 5 Joint Venture partners was executed, and full field development of the Central Moran Project was completed in September 2002. The Central Moran Oil Field was developed as a single Unit with ownership of the Unit in the proportion of 45% by PDL 2 and 55% by PDL 5.
Moran production is processed at the Agogo Production Facility (APF) and liquids are then piped to the Central Production Facility for further processing, storage and export through the export pipeline. The Moran PDL-5 participants pay a tariff to the PDL-2 and PL-2 partners for processing and transporting crude through the Kutubu system. In late 2003, NW Moran, an extension of the Moran field towards the north west, into PPL 219, was discovered. In September 2005, an Extended Production Test (EPT) of the NW Moran 1 well commenced, following the construction of a 23 kilometre pipeline linking NW Moran into the APF. This, together with infrastructure debottlenecking, additional infill wells and success in re-pressurising the Moran reservoir due to improved facilities reliability, has resulted in an increase in production rates in recent years.
In late 2006, the PDL 2, PDL 5 and PPL 219 (now PDL 6) joint venture partners agreed to establish a single Greater Moran Unit across the Moran and NW Moran fields. The unitisation split is 55:44:1 to PDL 5, PDL 2 and PDL 6 respectively, giving Oil Search a 49.51% interest in the Unit. A Production Development Licence over the NW Moran field, PDL 6, was awarded in 2008.
Oil Search (49.51% interest in the Greater Moran Unit):
60.05% interest in PDL-2 (operator)
40.69% interest in PDL-5 (operator is ExxonMobil)
71.07% interest in PDL 6 (operator)
During first quarter 2013, the field produced at a gross average rate of 10,440 bopd compared to 11,879 bopd in the previous quarter, reflecting downtime at the CPF as well as a short period of downtime to allow repairs to an oil line. During the quarter, drilling continued at the Moran 13 ST1 well, which reached its planned target depth and confirmed hydrocarbons in both the Toro and Digimu reservoirs in the north-west segment. A four zone completion has been successfully installed in the well and initial production rates have been encouraging, with 2,000 bopd achieved during commissioning. A second well was planned to be drilled at Moran in the second half of 2013.
Operators:
Oil Search Limited: 49.51% interest
Exxon Mobil: 26.82% interest
Merlin Petroleum Company (JX Nippon): 8.31% interest
Kumul Petroleum (PNG Government): 11.3% interest
Petroleum Resources Kutubu Limited: 2.97% interest
Petroleum Resources Moran Limited: 1.10% interest
Petroleum Resources North West Moran Limited: 0.02% interest