Speaking at the Gastech Conference in Chiba, Japan, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Vice President PNG Marketing Stephen McCusker said the project produced 7.8 MMt last year, well above the original nameplate capacity of 6.9 MMt/a.
“Originally we contracted for the base project 6.6 MMt/a, and last year we produced close to 7.9 MMt/a, so the 1.3 MMt/a plus the additional recertification gives us an opportunity to approach the market with mid-term contracts,” McCusker told Reuters.
A study conducted in February showed the likely recoverable natural gas from all PNG LNG fields sits at 11.5 Tcf, up from the original 9.2 Tcf.
The PNG LNG Project involves a two-train, 6.6 MMt/a LNG processing facility, envisaging the integrated development of the Hides, Angore and Juha gas fields, as well as associated gas from the Kutubu, Agogo, Gobe and Moran oil fields.
Gas is transported to the LNG plant near Port Moresby through approximately 850 km of large diameter pipeline.
Joint venture participants include ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Highlands as operator (33.2 per cent), Oil Search (29.0 per cent), PNG Government (16.6 per cent), Santos (13.5 per cent), Nippon Oil (4.7 per cent), Mineral Resources Development Company (2.8 per cent) and Petromin PNG Holdings Limited (0.2 per cent).