Photo credit: Santos Ltd.
The talks between ExxonMobil and the government on the P'nyang gas project have been hailed as "good" by Prime Minister James Marape.
Last month, the two companies signed a letter of intent to commence project talks.
“ExxonMobil will be resuscitating conversations on the P’nyang gas fields which is up north from the present PNG LNG. P’nyang will be brought back to the table,” he said.
Marape just departed the nation to attend the UN General Assembly in New York and continue discussions with the firm.
“If I could win above present thresholds, as far as where our laws allow or winning better than the PNG LNG and Papua LNG, we will come back with news on how P’nyang will be,” he said.
“But we will be pushing hard on ExxonMobil.”
ExxonMobil and the State Negotiating Team are “in excellent discussions,” according to Marape, based on the indications received.
“Hopefully, my showing-up in Houston, Texas, the headquarters of ExxonMobil, will cement how the future of P’nyang will be, subject to how the negotiations will come to a conclusion,” he said.
“It might be a win/win for us, a win/win for them that embraces also the PNG LNG area footprint and the legacies that we are living with as far as the PNG LNG project is concerned.”
Marape said once negotiations with ExxonMobil were completed, “we should (know) how P’nyang will feature”.
He estimated that the Papua LNG project will be completed in 2024/ 2025.
“We would like to extend the construction phase in the LNG sector to two, three years, piggybacking on the possibility of bringing P’nyang into the picture.”
Reference: The National (21 September 2021). “Discussion on project good: PM”.
