Discussion on project good: PM

PRIME Minister James Marape has described as “good” the discussions between ExxonMobil and the Government on the P’nyang gas project.
The two parties signed a letter of intent last month to begin negotiations on the project.
“ExxonMobil will be resuscitating conversations on the P’nyang gas fields which is up north from the present PNG LNG. P’nyang will be brought back to the table,” he said.
Marape left the country yesterday to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York and pursue further talks with the company.
“If I could win above present thresholds, as far as where our laws allow, or winning better than the PNG LNG and Papua LNG, we will come back with news on how P’nyang will be,” he said.
“But we will be pushing hard on ExxonMobil.”
Marape said from the signals received, ExxonMobil and the State Negotiating Team “are in good discussions”.
“Hopefully, my showing-up in Houston, Texas, the headquarters of ExxonMobil, will cement how the future of P’nyang will be, subject to how the negotiations will come to a conclusion,” he said.
“It might be a win/win for us, a win/win for them that embraces also the PNG LNG area footprint and the legacies that we are living with as far as the PNG LNG project is concerned.”
Marape said once negotiations with ExxonMobil were completed, “we should (know) how P’nyang will feature”.
He expects the Papua LNG construction to happen around 2024/ 2025.
“We would like to extend the construction phase in the LNG sector to two, three years, piggybacking on the possibility of bringing P’nyang into the picture.”