The two events are timely, following a recent agreement between Australia and East Timor on how to further develop oil and gas in the Timor Sea’s Joint Petroleum Development Area and share the royalties on an equal basis.

Key topics to be discussed at the 13th annual SEAOOC conference are government perspectives and policy, local exploration and production updates, liquefied natural gas producers and markets, downstream industry development, and commercialising gas reserves in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin said the two-day event would cover all issues and trends in the petroleum sector that were relevant to northern Australia and South-East Asia.

“The NT Government is keen to promote debate on the establishment of downstream gas industries, which will add value to Australia’s bountiful gas resources,” she said.

“It is hoped that SEAOCC 2007 will provide a forum for this.”

As well as Martin, other SEAOCC speakers include Australian Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources Ian Macfarlane and Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Belinda Robinson.

Industry speakers include ConocoPhillips Australia’s new president Joe Marushack, Oil Search managing director Peter Botten, Nexus Energy managing director Ian Tchacos, MEO Australia managing director Chris Hart, and North West Shelf Australia LNG president Peter Cleary.

Other eminent speakers include Taiwanese Minister for Economic Affairs Steve Ruey-long Chen and Peruvian Minister of Energy Juan Valdivia Romer. East Timor Prime Minister Dr Jose Ramos-Horta has also been invited to speak.

SEAOCC 2007 will also feature a site visit to the Darwin liquefied natural gas plant hosted by ConocoPhillips personnel on Saturday, June 2.

In addition, pre-conference workshops will be held to provide delegates with a hands-on experience of the legislative, technical and planning issues related to key areas within the industry.

Day 1 (Wednesday, May 30) kicks off with four half-day workshops, covering exploration and production project economics, a geoscience update on the Timor Sea, gas monetisation options for Asian gas producers and developments and trends in the Asia-Pacific LNG industry and market.

Running alongside these workshops will be a full-day master class on the fundamentals of LNG.

The morning session of Day 2 (Thursday, May 31) will be dedicated to keynote speeches from various governments in the region, following which nine operators will update their various exploration and production pursuits.

Among these, Oil Search managing director Peter Botten and PNG LNG chief executive Jack Hamilton will discuss the prospects for establishing an LNG industry in Papua New Guinea.

Oil Search recently signed a cost-sharing agreement with ExxonMobil, Santos and Nippon Oil to carry out a detailed pre-front-end engineering design study for a standalone LNG project based on the Hides gas field.

Upon the release of his company’s March quarter results, Botten said robust demand in the Asia-Pacific region would allow for at least one, if not more, LNG trains to be built in PNG.

“While it is likely that there will be just one set of infrastructure, it is quite feasible that there could be different ownership structures in individual LNG trains, as is the case, for example in Trinidad,” he said.

Two years ago, this venture could not even have been contemplated in PNG because of the high costs of piping natural gas from the PNG Highlands to a coastal location where liquefaction would take place.

But the fairly recent surge in oil and gas prices has meant this is not only a viable proposition but far more lucrative than the original idea of exporting the gas to Australia.

The issue of LNG demand and trade in the Asia-Pacific will consume the morning of Day 3 (Friday, June 1) of the SEAAOC conference.

After lunch, attention will shift to downstream gas opportunities, the environment and economics and innovation.

Darwin became Australia’s second LNG hub when ConocoPhillips opened its 3.7 million tonne per annum facility early last year.

Completed on budget and one month early, the $A2 billion Darwin LNG project is the second phase of development for the Bayu Undan gas fields in the Timor Sea, about 500km northwest of Darwin.

The Wickham Point site has approval to produce 10MMt of LNG per year. The partners are currently pursuing new gas supplies for an expansion.

SEAAOC 2007 will be held at the Holiday Inn Esplanade.

Visit www.seaaoc.com for more details.