Papua LNG group signs MOU with Papua New Guinea

The Papua LNG joint venture partners led by Total SA have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Papua New Guinea for development of the Elk-Antelope gas-condensate fields, known as the Papua LNG Project.

The scope of the agreement includes priority terms and conditions forming the basis for a gas agreement as well as a timeline for negotiation. The gas agreement is scheduled for finalization during first-quarter 2019.

The MOU follows the Papua LNG and the ExxonMobil Corp.-led PNG-LNG joint venture parties reaching broad alignment earlier this year on the preferred downstream concept for the next phase of LNG development in Papua New Guinea.

The plan involves the construction of three 2.7 million tonne/year capacity LNG trains on the existing PNG-LNG plant site at Caution Bay just west of Port Moresby. Two trains will be supplied with gas from the Elk-Antelope fields and the third train by gas from existing PNG-LNG fields and the yet-to-be developed P’nyang field in the Western Highlands. Together Elk-Antelope and P’nyang contain an estimated 11 tcf of undeveloped 2C gas resource.

The Papua LNG Project is based on the Elk-Antelope resources in petroleum retention license PRL15 in the Eastern Highlands. Total has 31.1% interest, ExxonMobil has 28.3% interest acquired when it bought InterOil Corp. earlier this year, and Oil Search Ltd. has 17.7%. These percentages are after the state of Papua New Guinea has backed into the project for 22.5%.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill labeled the MOU as “another historic moment for Papua New Guinea and the beginning of the development of the second LNG (Project) in our country.”

He said, “Today’s memorandum paves the way for us to enter into a project gas agreement which will be negotiated between the parties over the next 3-4 months and to be concluded by Mar. 31, 2019.”

Peter Botten, managing director of Oil Search which, like ExxonMobil, is a participant in both joint ventures, said pre-FEED downstream studies on the three-train development concept are well under way. The scope of the engineering work includes design, process, and layout optimization of the expansion concept from the gas inlet to the LNG loading arm.

“Work taking place includes the brownfield tie-ins, compressor driver selection, LNG loading and shipping, condensate treatment, storage and loading, and execution planning,” Botten said. “We expect this will underpin entry into the full FEED stage.”

Botten added that discussions between the government negotiating team and the P’nyang (PRL—3) joint venture are well advanced. “With an integrated FEED entry decision required to advance the three-train expansion at the PNG-LNG site, completion of the gas agreement between the government and the PRL-3 joint venture is expected to occur in a similar timeframe to the Papua LNG Project,” he said.

The recent MOU for Papua LNG was signed as a show piece for Papua New Guinea during the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) in Port Moresby in the presence of Papua New Guinea Prime Minister O’Neill and Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne.