Papua New Guinea government backs Papua LNG gas deal

The government of Papua New Guinea has agreed in principle to support the Papua LNG gas agreement. 

However, the government is reserving rights to discuss a shortlist of matters with the developers.

The Papua LNG gas agreement, signed by all joint venture parties, Total (operator), ExxonMobil and Oil Search, as well as the government, was a key prerequisite for entering the FEED phase of the Papua LNG project while signing a gas agreement for the P’nyang field is a requirement for launching the FEED phase of the proposed three-train LNG downstream development.

PNG’s petroleum minister Kerenga Kua said, “We believe that what we have discussed and agreed to are favorable and will not affect the general economics and fiscal terms of the Papua LNG Gas Agreement, however those matters are of relevance to the State and this will be placed on the table for consideration by the joint venture partners.”

Kua noted that the discussions continue on Monday, August 5, and it would not take more than two weeks to conclude.

In response to minister Kua’s comments, Oil Search’s managing director Peter Botten said the government’s support is encouraging, noting the company supports the operator and the government “in resolving any final questions on Papua LNG gas agreement, so that the P’nyang gas agreement can be finalized and the PRL 15 and PNG LNG joint ventures can proceed into the front-end engineering and design phase of the integrated three-train development in a timely manner.”

The Papua LNG joint venture is also working with the government on finalizing the national content plan for the project, Botten said.