P’nyang South drives up Oil Search

By MALUM NALU
Oil Search Ltd shares hitting an all-time high last week was because of significant gas discovery at P’nyang South sidetrack in Western province, according to investor relations manager Ann Diamont, The National reports.
She told The National yesterday (Tuesday) that the shares rallied following the announcement of a significant gas discovery at P’nyang South sidetrack.
“The well extended the size of the known gas column at P’nyang South to 380 metres, with a potential additional up-dip upside, which could mean that the total gas column is over 650 metres,” Diamont said.
“It is subject to further evaluation, but it could help to underpin LNG expansion.
“In addition, our results for the first quarter of 2012 were better than market expectations.
“Even though we had a planned 16 day shutdown at the production facilities to undertake PNG LNG modification work, our revenues were only 7% lower than in the fourth quarter, due to high oil prices and improved gas revenues.
An Oil Search drilling report says that on April 19, the P’nyang South 1 ST1 well was at a depth of 2,944 metres and undertaking a formation evaluation programme over the Toro sandstone.
“Based on the preliminary interpretation of data collected in both P’nyang South 1 and P’nyang South 1 ST1, the gas zone is interpreted to extend approximately 200 metres deeper than the lowest known gas in P’nyang South 1, indicating an increase in the total gas column to approximately 380 metres,” the report says.
“Seismic interpretation and structural mapping suggests additional up-dip potential above P’nyang South 1 and indicates a potential vertical gas column in the P’nyang South field of over 650 metres.”
P’nyang South is located four kilometres south-west of the P’nyang 1X gas discovery and approximately 90 kilometres north-west of the Juha gas field.
The participants in P’nyang South 1 ST1 are: Oil Search Ltd (38.5%), ExxonMobil affiliates (49%), JX Nippon (12.5%).
Oil Search is drilling the P’nyang South well under contract with the Operator, Esso PNG P’nyang Ltd.

Oil Search starts biggest drilling programme

Oil Search has embarked on the largest drilling programme in its history, according to its quarterly report, The National reports.
The report says a number of appraisal, development and exploration wells will be drilled across its PNG Highlands and Gulf licences over the next 18 months.
Oil Search managing director Peter Botten said this programme was designed to evaluate the gas potential and build a resource base to potentially underwrite further gas development opportunities.
“The first well in this campaign, P’nyang South 1, was drilled on a structure immediately south of the existing P’nyang gas field during the quarter,” he said.
“The well discovered gas, intersecting a 184 metre gas zone over the Toro to the base of the P’nyang sands. A side-track, P’nyang South 1 ST1, was subsequently drilled, with the objective of defining the gas:water contact.
“The well reached target depth shortly after the end of the quarter, successfully intersecting the gas: water contact some 200 metres below the lowest gas in P'nyang South and extending the known gas column to approximately 380 metres.
“Interpretation of seismic and structural data suggests there is additional potential up-dip, indicating the total gas column could be over 650 metres.
“This is an excellent result, materially increasing the total estimated 2C gas resources in the P’nyang field and providing a potential key underpinning volume for LNG expansion.”
Oil Search drilled both wells under contract with the Operator, Esso PNG P’nyang Ltd.
Botten said construction of the well pad for the second well in the programme, Trapia 1, an exploration well on a large structure to the east of the Hides and Angore fields, was completed during the quarter.
“The rig is currently being assembled, with drilling scheduled to commence following the completion of P’nyang South activities,” he said.
“Development and appraisal drilling at the Hides gas field is due to commence mid-year and will continue through 2012 and 2013.
“Further drilling is also planned in the oil fields, to assess the potential upside in both oil and gas resources that can enhance further gas commercialisation.”
Botten said in the Gulf of Papua, following the positive results from the 2011 3D seismic survey, Oil Search had decided to acquire additional 3D seismic data in order to high grade a number of prospects prior to potential drilling.
“A seismic vessel was contracted and acquisition has recently commenced,” he said.
“Shortly after the end of the quarter, the company entered a contract to drill two firm and two optional wells in the Gulf acreage, with drilling targeted to commence in late 2012.”

BIG ROAD is an amazing read

By MALUM NALU

Since I took my first trip along the Highlands Highway from Goroka to Lae in 1975 with my late old man, Mathias Nalu; at Aiyura National High School; and driving myself some 20-plus years later, I've always been fascinated by the RUPERT HAVILAND Memorial Lookout on the top of Kassam Pass.
Haviland was only 21 when he supervised building of the Kassam Pass Road which ultimately linked Lae to the Highlands.
After completion of the road, he returned to Australia, but died of an allergy to a medicinal drug while in hospital receiving treatment for an illness.
 His body was cremated and his ashes scattered over the Kassam Pass road that he built as such a young man.
One of those who worked with Haviland was another young kiap, BOB CLELAND.
After a stint with Haviland on the Kassam Pass, Cleland went further inland and himself supervised building of the Daulo Pass Road from Asaro- Watabung in 1953.
The amazing stories of these young man, and their boss, the legendary IAN DOWNS, are told in this book, BIG ROAD, by Cleland, which I've just finished reading.

Amazing and emotional stuff! Unfortunately, copies are hard to find in PNG, however, after overwhelming interest in Goroka at the weekend, Cleland is now negotiating with his publisher for another print run especially for PNG
This book is a must-read for all our young kids!

Goroka Show gets off to a flying start

By MALUM NALU
The 2012 Goroka Show was launched in style in the Lahani Room of the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka last Saturday (April 28).


Asaro mudman entertains guests at the launch of the 2012 Goroka Show.-Pictures by MALUM NALU

 It also got off to a flying start when National Gaming Control Board chief executive officer, Edward Mike Jondi, presented K200, 000 to show committee chairman Gideon Samuel to kick-start the 2012 show.

National Gaming Control Board CEO Edward Mike Jondi (left) presents K200,000 to Goroka Show committee chairman Gideon Samuel.

Other cash sponsorships and pledges were made, including K10, 000 from geologist Wera Mori of Mori and Associates, while Eastern Highlands provincial government and Coffee Industry Corporation made pledges.
Other companies and organisations are expected to follow suit.

An Eastern Highlands tune at the 2012 Goroka Show launch.

The night was graced with the presence of legendary kiap (patrol officer) and Highlands Highway builder, Bob Cleland, who was involved in the very first Goroka Show way back in 1956.

Former kiap Bob Cleland, who took part in the first Goroka Show in 1956, reminisces.

He said the organisers of this one, with no precedent to guide them, copied the pattern of a typical Australian country show, with the three districts of Eastern Highlands – Chimbu, Kainantu and Goroka – taking part.
Cleland said there were no singsing groups, but in subsequent shows, the singsing groups with plenty of encouragement from the government and organisers, turned up in force.

Lufa group at the 2012 Goroka Show launch.

Samuel said his committee now had a good rapport with sponsors and other stakeholders, and was fully accountable and transparent.

An Asaro mudman entertains guests at the launch of the 2012 Goroka Show.

“We’d like to make this year’s show even bigger and better,” he said.

Goroka - like every place you've never left

By MALUM NALU

Goroka brings back so many memories for me.
Took a drive around town after arriving last Saturday, April 28, 2012,  which was quite emotional for me.
It was 10 years ago, in 2002, that my late wife Hula  and our two baby sons left Goroka for a new life in Port Moresby after four wonderful years.
Here are some of the pictures I took last Saturday.

This is the road leading from Goroka Airport to town. Do you see any buai pekpek or litter like Port Moresby, the filthiest capital city in the world?

Driving along Peace Park

The Highlands Highway runs right through town

Peace Park, Goroka, where we would sit under the cool pine and gum trees and watch planes take off and land. It's called Peace Park because warring tribes come here to make peace!

The main Highlands Highway at West Goroka shopping centre.

West Goroka Shopping Centre, still the same after all these days (albeit old and rundown), and which take me back to my childhood days as far back as 1975.

St John's Lutheran Church, West Goroka (right), a place which is close to my heart, as this is where we came to worship in the 1970s, and likewise, from 1999-2002 when I got married to Hula.Unfortunately, I didn't have time to catch up with old friends there yesterday, as I had to leave.

A bit of a goat track beside the hospital

Leigh Vial Street towards Goroka Base Hospital

Leigh Vial Street, West Goroka, which leads down to the Goroka Base Hospital. Just out of this picture, to the bottom right, is the big three-bedroom house where Hula and I used to live in 1999/2000, before our two elder sons were born.

Goroka Post Office, one of the many remaining pre-independence buildings which still survive. I know, because I was a pre-independence child of Goroka!

Town

A lazy Saturday afternoon in town

This is the main street of Goroka town on Saturday. It's so clean compared to the buai pekpek of Port Moresby and certainly puts the flithy capital city of PNG to shame!

Goroka last Saturday with Gouna Building in the background.

Clouds over Goroka, always a beautiful sight

That's our kiap friend BOB CLELAND talking to one of his fans along the streets of Goroka last Saturday as my good mate Tom Soles (with the beard like Osama Bin Laden!), executive officer of the Goroka Show Committee, listens. Bob, for those who came in late, first came to Goroka in 1953 as a 22-year-old kiap, supervised building of the Asaro-Watabung section of the Highlands Highway in 1953, was involved in the very first Goroka Show in 1956, and his Nokondi motif has immortalised him on the Eastern Highlands provincial flag. Trupela man Apo!

A Saturday arvo stroll in Town

Town on a Saturday

After all the 'buai pekpek' of Port Moresby, it was a breath of fresh air to come to Goroka, where the place seems to be so clean. And the beautiful perfumed flowers

What do you notice in this picture, taken in the heart of Goroka town on Saturday? The place is very clean and the flower garden is not full of buai pekpek and litter like Port Moresby!

Welcome to Goroka

By MALUM NALU

 Legendary kiap (patrol officer) and Highlands Highway builder Bob Cleland returned to Goroka and Eastern Highlands for the first time since he left in 1976, last Saturday (April 28).

Cleland was feted like royalty the moment he stepped onto the tarmac in Goroka, on which he first set foot on 59 years ago in 1953.
Asaro mudmen and other Eastern Highlands dancers welcomed him back to Goroka, and he was greeted by senior provincial government officials including outgoing provincial administrator MunareUyassi, as blind children from the Mt Sion School for the Blind outside Goroka sang that famous and movingGoroka anthem “Welcome to Goroka”.
Cleland, now aged 81, was clearly overwhelmed by the welcome.

Our good friend BOB CLELAND being presented an Eastern Highlands flag by outgoing provincial administrator MUNARE UYASSI on Saturday. For those who don't know, Cleland was the one who designed the Nokondi motif on this flag.Nokondi is the fabled spirit who had one eye, one ear, one leg and one testicle.Cleland, who supervised the building of the Asaro-Watabung section of the Highlands Highway in 1953, was executive officer of the Eastern Highlands Area Authority (which became the Eastern Highlands provincial government in 1977) from 1975-1976,The new authority needed a common seal, and when Cleland asked members what was something traditional covering the whole Eastern Highlands, they quickly decided on Nokondi.That same image is at the centre of today’s Eastern Highlands provincial flag

The reception committee

Welcome to Goroka

Flowers for a hero

From left are National Gaming Control Board CEO Edward Mike Jondi, Cleland and Uyassi

Uyassi has a yarn with Cleland



The man of the moment!



A side view

A phalanx of traditional dancers

Welcome to Goroka!

This bamboo contains water from Watabung, where Cleland was based in 1953

Students of Mt Sion School for the Blind outside Goroka welcome Cleland with that unforgettable and touching Goroka anthem Welcome to Goroka

Jondi, Cleland's partner Elizabeth Green, Cleland and Uyassi listen to the welcome song

2012 Goroka Show gets K200,000 boost from Gaming Board

By MALUM NALU
Monetary benefits of the Goroka Show, one of PNG’s biggest tourism money makers, will be known later this year when a socio-economic study is completed by the National Research Institute (NRI).
This will be the first time that such a professional economic study has been carried out into any one of the many cultural and tourism events in the country.
National Gaming Control Board chief executive officer, Edward Mike Jondi, said this when presenting K200, 000 to show committee chairman Gideon Samuel at the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka on Saturday to kick-start the 2012 show.

NGCB CEO Edward Mike Jondi (left) presents the K200, 000 to Goroka show committee chairman Gideon Samuel.-Pictures by MALUM NALU

Other cash sponsorships and pledges were made, including K10, 000 from geologist Wera Mori of Mori and Associates, while Eastern Highlands provincial government and Coffee Industry Corporation made pledges.
Other companies and organisations are expected to follow suit.
Jondi said the full economic benefits of the show to Goroka and Eastern Highlands, as well as PNG as a whole, would become clearer when the study was completed by the NRI.
Jondi, who is from Lufa in Eastern Highlands, also called on other business houses in Goroka and Eastern Highlands to get behind the show as it promoted business and culture in the province.

A singsing group from Lufa entertains guests at Saturday’s launching of the 2012 Goroka Show at the Bird of Paradise Hotel.-

“Today we are proud of the many positive contributions Goroka Show adds to the province and country,” he said.
“Goroka Show is a must-see event on the tourism calendar of PNG and is a global event.
“It is an event which brings cultures together, facilitates exchange of ideas, unearths innovation, promotes positive themes, hence the reason for supporting the show.
“These positive contributions will soon become clearer as soon as an economic impact study is done by the NRI.”
Goroka Show committee last November commissioned the NRI to carry out a study into the socio-economic benefits of the show to Goroka, Eastern Highlands and PNG.

An Asaro mud man entertains guests at Saturday’s launching of the 2012 Goroka Show at the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka.-

Executive officer Tom Solepa said despite Goroka having the oldest show in PNG, there were no proper records or tangible assets.
“It (Goroka show) has a very long history,” he said.
“However, despite its length of existence, there’s nothing tangible on the ground.
“I see that there’s a need to get a structure in place, which is something that we’ve talked about at committee level.
“The whole idea is to have information and data available.”
He said the study would go a long way towards self-sustainability in future, including the study by NRI.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill last year approved K700, 000 for the Goroka Show, which made the 2011 event one of the best ever.