In December 2020, Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL), Papua New Guinea’s National Oil Company, announced the awarding of two contracts for the design development and engineering of a new Floating, Storage, Re-gasification and Power Generation (FSRP) facility.
The announcement is an important step towards meeting the demand and supply requirement set out in the PNG 2030 Strategic Plan.
KPHL stated that it is committed to working towards the Plan’s goal of connecting 70 per cent of the PNG population to secure electricity by 2030.
It will also provide PNG’s growing heavy industries with much needed environmentally cleaner and sustainable fuel options for their additional power generation requirements they seek to increase productivity.
The new FSRP facility will have the capacity to generate 75 megawatts (MW) of power to be exported to the local transmission grid.
It will be located on the northern coast of PNG, close to Lae, bringing much-needed power generation to the area which contains some of the country’s key resources projects.
KPHL’s Managing Director, Wapu Sonk, detailed that KPHL has undertaken a robust design evaluation process with some of the world’s best companies to get to this point.
“We’ve worked with the industry leaders to ensure the facility we build has the ability to provide PNG with world-class energy infrastructure that will power the country’s future,” Mr Sonk said.
“The benefits of this facility will be felt by all Papua New Guineans. Not only will more people have access to electricity in the home, but industry will be able to grow providing a better economic outlook for the future,” he said.
“KPHL is proud to be an integral part in the delivery of the power generation needs set out in the 2030 Strategic Plan. This facility in partnership with the other projects currently underway will deliver a better PNG for its people in the near future.”
The multipurpose FRSP facility design will provide first gas in the fourth quarter of 2024. It will be able to load and store 140,000 cubic metres m3 of liquified natural gas, which can be offloaded to small scale (SS) bulk cargo vessels and redistributed to smaller local power generation locations such as Lihir and other provincial Islands. It will also regasify and export localised gas via pipeline for heavy industry.
The first of the contracts has been awarded to Chiyoda Corporation headquartered in Japan in partnership with Moss Maritime of Norway. The second contract has been awarded to Wison Offshore and Marine based in Shanghai, China.
A feasibility study executed in early 2019 identified Lae in the Morobe Province as the most economically suitable and technologically feasible location.
