PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (PNG LNG) project was some 90% complete and on track to produce its first gas by the second half of 2014, operator ExxonMobil reported this week.
The company also noted that the price tag had remained unchanged at $19-billion.
“With more than 19 000 people currently working across the project, including more than 7 500 Papua New Guineans, we are making significant progress,” said PNG LNG project executive Decie Autin.
She noted that the operator had now started the commissioning phase of the LNG plant in preparation for first LNG production. This included sending gas from project partner Oil Search’s Kutubu central processing facility to the LNG plant to provide power and enable testing and commissioning of key facilities and equipment.
Oil Search MD Peter Botten said on Monday that while considerable work remained to be completed before first LNG sales, the commissioning was an important step for the project.
The PNG LNG project’s gas would be transported by pipeline to a liquefaction plant with a capacity of 6.9-million tonnes a year, some 25 km from Port Moresby.
The project was being developed by ExxonMobil, Oil Search, Santos and Nippon Oil.