The Sydney-based company, which is listed on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges, holds a 10% stake in the Tui Area oil fields.
The CBA debt facility will provide the bulk of Pan Pacific’s share of the development capital costs and associated contractor guarantees.
Total production development costs for Tui are expected to be up to $300-350 million, including $100 million for the Floating Production, Storage and Offtake vessel used for storage and production.
First oil from the development is scheduled for the June 2007 quarter, with initial flows forecast around 50,000 barrels per day. The Tui fields are estimated to contain about 27mmbbls of recoverable oil.
The company says it has also established hedging arrangements at Tui to protect itself against a drop in global oil prices. It has acquired an initial tranche of $50 put options over 250,000 bbls of its share of pending production.
In February, Japan’s Mitsui announced its subsidiary had agreed to increase its stake to 35%.
The Tui (PMP38158) partners are operator AWE Group, which holds a 42.5% stake, Mitsui E&P New Zealand (35%), New Zealand Oil & Gas (12.5%), and Pan Pacific Petroleum (10%).
