LONDON — Intertek, a quality solutions provider to industries worldwide, has completed calibration services for Oil Search Limited (OSL) on its Papua New Guinea export pipeline in a contract worth £600,000 (2.8 million PGK/US $1 million).

The project saw Intertek calibrate pipe provers to support the operator in maintaining the high accuracy of its measurement and ensuring the correct metering of hydrocarbons prior to export.

Raymond Pirie, Vice President of Intertek’s global Exploration and Production business line, said: “Oil and gas companies need measurement traceability to determine the accuracy of their equipment. If companies don’t perform regular calibration, the financial implications can be considerable as there is no way to prove what quantities are being exported. This is also an essential element for hydrocarbon allocation."

“Intertek calibrated the provers at the Central Processing Facility in the Southern Highlands Province and the Kumul Marine Terminal in the Papua Gulf for OSL," Pirie continued. "We utilized equipment and expertise from our Aberdeen operation, overcoming many logistical challenges to access the more remote areas of the country.”

The crude oil pipeline is 170 km long and carries hydrocarbon from the Central Processing Facility at Kutubu to the Kumul Marine Terminal. Calibration determined the volume of the pipe provers used to verify the metering of crude oil from the Central Processing Facility, which is sent to the Kumul Terminal for export.

Daniel Wood, Senior Projects Engineer at Oil Search Limited, said: “Intertek provided an effectively delivered calibration service. Their site technicians were flexible in trying conditions and their professionalism was a credit to the organisation and the people involved. Their work on site was of a high standard and their compliance to our company procedures was first rate.”

Operations in PNG

Oil Search was established in Papua New Guinea in 1929 and is the country’s largest oil producer. Over 95 percent of its assets are in Papua New Guinea, where it holds oil and gas production and exploration licences plus a 29 percent interest in the US $19 billion Papua New Guinea LNG Project. This world-class LNG development, which delivered its first LNG sales in May 2014, will quadruple Oil Search’s production volumes from 2015 onwards and transform the company into a major LNG exporter.

Oil Search has a comprehensive exploration and appraisal programme to underpin LNG expansion in Papua New Guinea and also has exploration interests in the Middle East and North Africa. It is listed on the Australian and Port Moresby stock exchanges, with a market capitalization of almost US $14 billion.

For more information on Intertek, visit www.intertek.com.