Reports: PNG LNG production not affected by protests

Production at the ExxonMobil-operated US$19 billion PNG LNG project is reportedly not affected as landowners are protesting over royalty disagreements.

Landowners are protesting over unpaid royalties from the giant LNG project which they claim they did not receive from the government of Papua New Guinea.

According to a report by Radio New Zealand, the protesters have given the government a seven-day deadline to pay royalties to landowners or they will shut down operations at the LNG project.

Reuters reported on Tuesday citing a statement by ExxonMobil that the energy giant urged a quick resolution to the dispute between the government of Papua New Guinea and disgruntled landowners.

“We respect the right of individuals to peacefully protest, but we also encourage continued dialogue between landowners and the government to resolve their outstanding issues promptly,” the statement said.

LNG World News contacted the LNG project operator, ExxonMobil PNG, but we did not receive a response by the time this article was published.

The PNG LNG project commenced production of LNG in April 2014 and since then it has delivered more than 200 cargoes of the chilled fuel.

The LNG project includes gas production and processing facilities in the Southern Highlands, Hela, Western, Gulf and Central Provinces of Papua New Guinea.

There are over 700 kilometres of pipelines connecting the facilities, which includes a gas conditioning plant in Hides and liquefaction and storage facilities near Port Moresby with capacity of 6.9 million tonnes per year.

Besides ExxonMobil, other JV participants are Oil Search, Santos, National Petroleum Company of PNG, JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration, Mineral Resources Development Company, and Petromin PNG Holdings.

LNG World News Staff