OSH Oil Search Limited

   By Robb M. Stewart 
 

MELBOURNE, Australia--Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) has warned a full assessment of natural-gas facilities in Papua New Guinea is likely to take time due to damage caused by Monday's earthquake and aftershocks to roads and other infrastructure.

The energy company and its partners have halted both production lines at liquefied natural gas operation outside the capital of Port Moresby after shutting a gas-conditioning plant in the Highlands region where the quake struck.

Exxon a day earlier said all employees in Papua New Guinea were safe and accounted for following the magnitude 7.5 earthquake, and operations would be shuttered to assess any damage. Oil Search Ltd. (OSH.AU), which has a 29% stake Exxon's US$19 billion PNG LNG project, also shut its production sites in the Highlands.

Non-essential personnel continued to be evacuated from the Hides Conditioning Plant on Tuesday and specialist engineers were flying in to the site to help with repair assessments, Exxon said. The Komo airfield, built to bring equipment and workers to the Hides plant, was damaged and has been closed, and communication in the area continues to be a significant challenge, it added.

Gas, condensate and water are separated at the Hides plant before being piped to other facilities. The gas is transported along a roughly 430-mile pipeline to the LNG plant near Port Moresby, where is it is chilled to a liquid for shipping.

"We are continuing to try and reestablish communications with our nearby communities to understand the broader impacts," Andrew Barry, managing director of ExxonMobil PNG, said. The company was working with the national disaster center, aid agencies and others to help coordinate relief plans, he said.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 26, 2018 22:30 ET (03:30 GMT)

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