Friday 10 January 2003, 20:30PM
Participants in the $6-7 billion Papua New Guinea gas project are locked in final stage sale talks with a number of potential Queensland, Northern Territory and southern state customers.
Sources close to the project say the Canadian-owned Alcan bauxite and alumina operation on the Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory may be its next customer.
Oil Search Ltd said negotiations were advanced with a number of parties but it could not comment on the speculation surrounding Alcan, based in Montreal.
Alcan' NT-focused operation currently buys fuel oil from the Middle East but is looking for a supplier to source 40 petajoules per annum (PJPA) of gas from 2007 to power its planned site expansion.
Alcan project director David Sutherland recently told AAP the company needed to sign a heads of agreement commitment by March to secure its future energy source.
The biggest stakeholder in the project, Oil Search, said it could not yet make an announcement concerning a speculated deal with Alcan South Pacific.
The Sydney-based Oil Search was on Friday forced to respond to an ASX share price query after its shares went for a run this week on speculation it was close to signing a 20-year supply deal with Alcan.
Oil Search shares lifted one cent today to 65 cents, with 7.3 million shares changing hands, after starting the week on 60 cents.
"We are aware of the recent news reports about Alcan South Pacific being about to sign a deal for PNG gas," Oil Search told the ASX.
"... the project sponsors are in intense negotiations with a number of customers in Queensland, the Northern Territory and the southern states.
©2003 AAP
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