Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné has reaffirmed in a media statement last night that TotalEnergies, operator of the project, and its international partners ExxonMobil, Santos, JX Nippon, are fully committed to proposed Papua LNG project.
He made this statement when he met with Prime Minister, James Marape to discuss the status of the proposed project.
CEO 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 the Prime Minister that, after receiving first 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 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 Patrick 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 local population of 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 deep-water exploration well on the PPL 576 license in 2025.