Minister for Petroleum and Energy Nixon Duban says that the name given to the Papua LNG project in the Gulf Province was achieved through scientific research.
He said that the name was given by the government with the advice from the developer Total SA.
Duban said the Elk/Antelope LNG project was situated at the Papuan basin therefore was given the name 'Papua LNG'.
He was responding to Gulf Governor Havila Kavo on the name of the project.
Minister Duban said that the decision to establish the processing plant away from Gulf was reached through scientific analysis..
He said that Gulf waters are also shallow and would have involved a lot of dredging.
The minister said that a lot of communities will be relocated and this will add additional costs.
"Given the current decline of oil prices, the decision has been made to have the processing plant out of Gulf."