Oil Search and Santos own 29.0% and 13.5% of PNG LNG, respectively, compared to Exxon’s operating interest of 33.2%. The foundation stage of the project is due to start producing liquefied natural gas, or LNG, for shipment to Asian customers next year. Exxon and partners have already found natural gas to support an expansion of the project to three LNG production units, also known as trains, from the two currently under construction. However, Exxon is poised to strengthen its hand. Last month, it announced it’s in exclusive talks with Houston-based InterOil to invest in the latter’s gas assets in Papua New Guinea. Boosting its own resources would give Exxon more power to determine when a third train is built and whose natural gas will be processed for export. That may feed concerns Oil Search and Santos will be left out of a future expansion. Oil Search, in particular, has a lot to lose as it owns 38.5% of the recent P’nyang discovery that could also support a bigger PNG LNG.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:23:12 +0000
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