The operator of the Papua LNG Project in Papua New Guinea, TotalEnergies and its international partners ExxonMobil, Santos, JX Nippon are fully committed to the project.
TotalEnergies chairman and chief executive officer, Patrick Pouyanné affirmed his commitment when meeting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape on the weekend.
They met to discuss the status of the Papua LNG project.
Mr Pouyanné shared the high interest of several LNG buyers for off-taking LNG from Papua LNG due to its strategic location close to key Asian markets.
He also informed Prime Minister Marape that, after receiving the first engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) offers. It appears that the project will need to keep working with contractors to obtain commercially viable EPC contracts and requires more work to reach the final investment decision (FID).
In that view, the project will review the structure of some packages and open the competition to an enlarged panel of Asian contractors. As a consequence, FID of Papua LNG project is now expected in 2025.
The Prime Minister and Mr Pouyanné agreed that this slight delay will not affect the early works planned in Papua New Guinea in 2024 and that the project will maintain its full support to the local population of the Gulf Province.
This demonstrates the commitment of TotalEnergies to the well-being of the people of Papua New Guinea.
Moreover, Patrick Pouyanné announced that TotalEnergies intends to drill the first deepwater exploration well on the PPL 576 license in 2025.