Photo Credit: Santos Ltd.
Exxonmobil PNG and the government have joined forces to ensure that the P'nyang gas project in Western Province is ready for negotiations in the coming weeks.
The project's letter of intent was signed, paving the way for it to get off the ground.
The P'nyang project has been on the table since 2019 when the State began looking into the possibility of signing a gas deal with ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners as project developers.
According to Minister of Petroleum Kerenga Kua, these negotiations were concluded in January of last year, allowing both the State and ExxonMobil to take a breather and rethink their respective strategies.
“We are grateful that Exxon is now prepared to invite us to recommence our discussions one more time.
“This time we intent on making sure that we cross the line bring all good faith and sincerity to the negotiations to enable us to reach some terms and conditions that are satisfactory to both sides so that the project can happen for all our mutual benefit,” Minister Kua said.
He explained that negotiating a project agreement is difficult since developers have their own internal standards and the state has its own expectations.
“I can only be hopeful and encourage Exxon to attempt to understand where we are coming from to help us to realise some of the revenue returns back to the country.
“This process will start very shortly.
We are hoping that around 9th or 10th of September the parties can convene in one room and try to stress out terms and conditions to potentially develop this project,” he said.
Peter Larden, managing director of ExxonMobil PNG, praised the Papua New Guinea government for taking this critical step ahead in the development of the P'nyang project.
He stated that the initiative will benefit all stakeholders directly and will encourage continuing investment and growth in the nation, as well as increasing capacity and ensuring the social and economic well-being of Papua New Guineans.
“The intent to develop the P’nyang field helps demonstrates the encouraging growth opportunities for our operations here in Papua New Guinea and together with our joint venture partners, we look forward to working closely with the government and the landowners to progress the P’nyang field development proposal and secure the license as needed to develop this resource,” Larden said. “I thank the PNG Government for its support and I look forward to progressing our discussions.”
Reference: Yafoi, Melisha. Post-Courier (23 August 2021). “Kua: P’nyang On The Table For More Talks”.
