The Papua New Guinea government and US energy giant ExxonMobil are looking to sign a deal on the stalled P’nyang natural gas project which would feed the PNG LNG plant.
PNG Minister for Petroleum, Kerenga Kua and managing director of ExxonMobil PNG, Peter Larden, announced the parties’ intention on Friday to “re-engage in the negotiations on the P’nyang project,” according to a joint statement.
Previously, they failed to reach an agreement on the development, the PNG government said in a statement in January 2020.
ExxonMobil-operated P’nyang gas field, licensed under PRL 3, is located in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.
The US giant and partner Oil Search had planned to develop the field to feed the third PNG LNG train. However, they have in the meantime decided not to proceed with the additional unit as the partners plan to focus on the TotalEnergies-led two-train Papua LNG project.
Also, gas from the P’nyang gas field would probably feed the existing two trains at the 6.5 mtpa PNG LNG plant near Port Moresby.
Working towards deal
“A series of workshops regarding the development of the P’nyang Gas fields will take place over the next couple of weeks and if all goes well, we can expect to sign a P’nyang heads of
agreement around the end of this next month and a gas agreement thereafter,” Kua said.
Larden said the intent to develop the P’nyang field helps demonstrate the “encouraging growth opportunities” for ExxonMobil’s operations in Papua New Guinea.
“Together with our joint venture partners, we look forward to working closely with the PNG government and the landowners to progress the P’nyang field development proposal and secure the licenses needed to develop this important resource,” he said.