Papua New Guinea is seeking to renegotiate the terms of the agreement on the Papua LNG project with Total, sending a negotiation team to the company. The previous agreement was reached in April 2019 with the country's administration at the time, the new government, however, promised to increase benefits for the state and the citizens when it took power in May 2019.
The US$13bn Papua LNG project is a 5.4 Mt/year export project to the developing Elk and Antelope gas fields in the Papua New Guinea Gulf province. It would consist of two 2.7 Mt/year trains that would be developed in synergy with the existing 6.9 Mt/year PNG LNG plant (two 3.45 Mt/year trains commissioned in 2014). The final investment decision (FID) is scheduled for later in 2019 and the new trains could be commissioned as early as 2023-2024.
Papua LNG is developed by Total, ExxonMobil and Oil Search and as part of a US$13bn plan to double Papua New Guinea's LNG exports. ExxonMobil and Oil Search are also taking part in the development of the P'nyang gas field under the same plan.