Total and its partners have signed a [non-binding] MOU with Papua New Guinea government defining the key terms of the gas agreement for the Total-proposed Papua LNG project.
Total and its partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search have signed a [non-binding] memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Papua New Guinea government defining the key terms of the gas agreement for the Total-proposed Papua LNG project, the French company said in a statement. The MOU “is expected to be finalized by Q1 2019”, which would lead to the development of Papua LNG project.
Total is the operator of the Elk and Antelope onshore fields and it is the largest shareholder in PRL-15 with a 31.1% interest, alongside partners ExxonMobil (28.3%) and Oil Search (17.7%), post the State back-in right of 22.5%.
The Elk-Antelope gas fields are allocated for the Papua LNG project which will encompass two LNG trains of 2.7 MMT/Y each and will be developed in synergy with the existing ExxonMobil-operated PNG LNG facilities, Total said, adding that its partners have agreed to launch the first phase of the engineering studies of this project.
The LNG project, which analysts estimate will cost $13 billion, is crucial to the Pacific island nation’s economy as LNG is its biggest export earner, while demand for the fuel is surging in international energy markets, Reuter reported, citing PNG Prime Minister as saying that “physical terms” had been agreed and “negotiations over how revenue would be shared in the community and provincial governments required more work.”
Disagreements over land-owner rights and revenue-sharing agreements have been an almost constant feature of resource development in PNG.
Total and partners are racing to start exporting from the new trains by 2024, when the LNG market is expected to need new supply to meet rapidly growing demand in Asia. But analysts say that timeline might be hard to meet as a final investment decision may not come until 2020 or 2021.
Updates:
On 9 Apr. 2019, Total and its partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search signed a gas agreement with PNG government defining the fiscal framework for the Papua LNG project which allows the partners to enter the project’s FEED phase that will lead to the Final Investment Decision in 2020.
The 5.4 MMT/Y Papua LNG project will consist of two LNG trains and will unlock over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent of natural gas resources. The gas production will be operated by Total and the LNG plant will be developed in synergy with ExxonMobil-operated PNG LNG project through an expansion of the existing plant in Caution Bay.
“Since the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2018, the pre-FEED engineering studies and the environmental baseline survey have been completed,” Total said.
On 5 May 2021, Total announced that after a year of delay because of Covid-19, the PNG government and the French company agreed on the remobilization of the Papua LNG project teams and other required resources. “The objective is to launch the FEED early 2022 and to prepare for final investment decision in 2023.”
Papua LNG project will target the production of the two main discoveries of Block PRL-15, Elk and Antelope, that were fully appraised until 2017. It is expected that the gas produced by these fields will be transported by a 320 km onshore/offshore pipeline to Caution Bay site in order to be liquefied in 2 trains to be built with a total capacity of 5.6 MMT/Y which will be integrated to the existing PNG LNG facilities in Caution Bay, according to Total.