ExxonMobil to assume operatorship of Papua LNG from TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies SE has agreed to transfer operatorship of the Papua LNG project in Papua New Guinea to ExxonMobil Corp. and sell a 9.1% interest in the development to existing joint venture partners, reducing its interest to 20% following the Papua New Guinea state's exercise of its back-in right through Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd.
The operatorship transfer will align the 5.6 million tonne/year (tpy) Papua LNG plant at Caution Bay, Papua New Guinea, with the nearby ExxonMobil-operated, 8-million tpy PNG LNG plant. The move is a step towards a final investment decision (FID) of Papua LNG and is intended to maximize synergies during the construction and operations phases, said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive officer, TotalEnergies, in a release Sept. 7.
Upon completion of the sell-down and the state's back-in exercise, Papua LNG project ownership is expected to comprise ExxonMobil (34.1%), Santos Ltd. (21.0%), TotalEnergies (20.0%), ENEOS Xplora Inc. (2.4%), and state-owned Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd. and MRDC (22.5%).
TotalEnergies will maintain its LNG offtake share of the project. Separately, the company executed a heads of agreement providing access to 1.5 million tonnes/year (tpy) of LNG for its global portfolio.
Project partner Santos, in a separate release, said it would pay about $189 for its additional 3.3% share.
TotalEnergies also said Papua LNG has completed the EPC tendering process, with contract award recommendations awaiting approval by the co-venturers. Since 2024, project optimization and rebidding of EPC packages have reduced estimated capital expenditures by nearly $4 billion to about $14 billion, the company said.
The partners also finalized amendments to the project's gas agreement with the Papua New Guinea government, established an LNG marketing joint venture to market 2.4 million tpy of LNG, and executed the LNG offtake heads of agreement.
The Papua LNG project envisages transportation of natural gas produced from Elk-Antelope gas fields in Gulf Province. Development includes gas processing infrastructure and a pipeline connecting the fields to LNG infrastructure near Port Moresby.