Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Talisman eyes Papuan basin devt drilling soon
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By YEHIURA HRIEHWAZI
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The company announced yesterday it will start development drilling in one of its fields and also drill four on-shore exploration wells in the Papuan basin.
Development drilling is done to recover oil, gas or condensate that has been discovered and ascertained through exploration and appraisal wells.
“The company expects to start development drilling in PNG, with early condensate recovery scheme in one of the blocks acquired last year,” Talisman president and chief executive John A Manzoni said in a statement released to the stock markets yesterday.
The PNG activities form part of Talisman’s global capital expenditure plan of C$5.2 billion (K13.5 billion) for this year announced by Mr Manzoni.
Apart from PNG, Talisman also step up its exploration and production work in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Europe and North America and sell off some non-core assets to assist with financing of its programmes. It is already cashed up with C$4 billion (K10.4 billion).
He said the company’s main priority for this year is to ramp up its shale plays.
“We will also be examining for sale additional non-core conventional assets in North America and continue to enhance our international exploration portfolio and capabilities as we build on last year’s success.
“The second priority will be to continue the focus on returns and profitability.
He said they expect the returns to increase as they successfully cycle capital into higher value investments, which should also lead to continued improvement in our finding and development costs.
“We have put processes in place to manage our capital programmes more efficiently … we are reviewing costs across the organisation, and implementing performance management tools throughout the business.”
Mr Manzoni said they will continue to build their organisational capability, adding the company’s executive team was strengthened last year with the addition of Paul Smith, Richard Herbert and Nick Walker at the executive level, and significant new talent across the organisation, including new country managers for Malaysia and PNG.
He also said the company will continue to upgrade its capabilities and processes, and develop its talent across the organisation this year.
“We will maintain balance sheet strength and flexibility.
The C$4.9 billion (K5.81 billion) in cash spending will be funded from operating cash flow, non-core asset sales and balance sheet strength.
He said they have designed the programme to be robust at US$60/bbl oil prices and US$3.50/mmbtu natural gas prices, with considerable flexibility to adjust the capital programme up or down in light of conditions throughout the year.
“We will also remain vigilant for strategic acquisition opportunities,” he said.
MCC’s deep-sea waste disposal system approved
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By JEFFREY ELAPA
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In a statement, the company said earlier it updated the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and the Mineral Resource Authority (MRA) on the progress of its environmental plans and how they would be carried out.
Ramu disclosed that it has contracted the American-Canadian contractor Brass-Resan-Candive to supply the needed materials and equipment and to build the company’s submarine tailing disposal facilities.
The company said the treated mine tailings would be buried 150m undersea through the disposal system to lessen ecological impact.
It said the system that inclues two pipelines with 800mm diameter would be laid on sea floor.
The company claimed during earlier investigations, it was found that some dead coral reefs in the shallow sea were in the pipeline route.
They would be removed to ensure the safe operation of the pipelines, the company said.
Ramu NiCo said blasting operation would be used as it is technically impossible to remove deed reefs at sea bottom using mechanical equipment.
The blasting is planned to be carried out next month and in March by a PNG licensed blaster and will cover an area of 50m long and 5m wide, with two blasts each operating day.
Ramu NiCo said the blasting would be minimal as each blast would use explosive less than 10kg, adding that the environmental impact of the blast would also be minimal.
They coral reefs in the area are dead and in the stone form, it said.
Also, findings from three underwater investigations showed that local fish population in 50m radius is very small.
Meanwhile, Ramu NiCo said it would continue to work closely with all stakeholders to ensure its deep-sea tailings disposal facilities would be built according to “high industry standard and best available practice”.
The company said it would conduct safety and environmental awareness at Basamuk community before blasting operations.
Dying marine life scare Islanders
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By DORISH KAMBA
Apart from having dead marine lives, some of the islanders got itchy skin and skin rashes after bathing in the sea.
Community leaders from Malie Island, the smallest of the three outer islands of Lihir, who were the first to discover the upheaval, reported that their folks on the nearby Masahet and Mahur Islands have reported similar concerns, describing it as a community concern.
The Islanders were concerned that what they were facing now might be caused by the disposal of tailings by the Lihir Gold Limited (LGL) through its marine tailings which extends 250m to the seabed, thus, leaders from Malie Island met with Lihir Mining Area Landowners Association (LMALA) and LGL officials on Jan 5 seeking answers as to what might have been the cause of dying marine products and people developingh itchy skin from the waters.
The Malie Island delegation, however, was concerned that LMALA and LGL might not be giving straight answers to the cause of the problem and claimed that they (LMALA and LGL) had failed to provide answers to peoples’ concerns in the past.
Meanwhile, a member of the delegation which included their local ward member, women, youth and church leaders said they were planning to take up their concerns with the Department of Environment and Conservation, Mining, and the New Ireland provincial and national governments to ensure peoples’ lives were not put at risk by these problems.
Carteret DVD to be released soon
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By ALISON ANIS
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This was made possible through the documentation of their cultural lifestyles which will be featured in DVD supported and funded by the UK government through the British High Commission (BHC) in PNG.
BHC’s Kila Kome said the project was being put together by the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia, and is due to be out in April.
“The working group has collected data, captured audio and visual images including pictures of the people, islands and their cultures, songs, dances including traditional legends or myths,” Mr Kome said.
A statement from BHC yesterday said the project, costing more than K129,000, was commissioned to preserve the unique culture of the people.
“People identify themselves with their culture, the Carteret Islanders are no exception and with their island sinking and the relocation exercise in place, it is important that their culture is captured for their identity of the next generation and beyond,” Commissioner David Dunn said in the statement.
The film project was made with the cooperation of local NGO Tulele Peisa Inc and in consultation with the Carteret council of elders.
Landowners shut down work at Ramu mine
Source:
Report and picture by JEFFREY ELAPA
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This followed a meeting of landowners at the mine site over outstanding issues in the Memorandum of Agreement.
As all construction work nears completion, the landowners’ representatives from the road and water easement and the special mining lease area decided in the meeting to stop all work and demand that the company honour its MOA commitments.
This week, the company’s community affairs officers have been issuing notices to the people to stop all activities on the SML areas as the project was in its final stages before the commissioning expected around March.
Representatives of the seven clans also demanded that the relocation exercise be speeded up if they want the people to stop all activities like gardening, building new houses or burying their dead.
Mauru clan village leader Kaso Memetua said the company (MCC) should relocate them properly before any work can proceed at the mine.
Bruno Karima from the Mauri clan said the company should have already moved the first and second lot of people. He said it was slow in doing so.
MCC has tested the water supply and will be launching it this Friday, but the landowners said that they would not allow any activity until their grievances were settled.
All construction work at the mine is about to be completed, with several of the facilities installed at the different sites tested.
Among the facilities already installed are the six huge generators brought in from Finland which are expected to supply 22MW of power to the mine and the water resource area.
The huge dam at the Gagayowo River has already been completed.
The huge underground demarcation facility at Vianivi is in its final stages before full operation.
An MCC insider said that the company was doing all it could for the landowners but other parties like the provincial government and the National Government should also do their part under the MOA.
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