Santos to sell 5pc stake

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
SANTOS is looking at selling 5 per cent of its stake in the PNG LNG project, according to the company.
In its 2022 first half-year report, the company said that it would retain 37.5 per cent of its share in the US$19billion (about K65.36billion) project.
Managing director and chief executive officer Kevin Gallagher said they were in talks with “short-listed parties for the sale of 5 per cent of PNG LNG, with expected proceeds in line with market consensus valuations”.
“The asset is performing well in the current environment and not surprisingly, there have been strong interest from reputable parties for equity in this project.
“The sale will leave us with a 37.5 per cent stake,” he said.
Other partners in the project are: ExxonMobil PNG Ltd (33.2 per cent), Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (16.8 per cent), Nippon Oil (4.7 per cent), Mineral Resources Development Company (2.8 per cent).
According to ExxonMobil PNG Ltd, the project is an integrated development that included gas production and processing facilities that extended from Hela, Southern Highlands, Western and Gulf to Port Moresby in Central.
ExxonMobil PNG Limited operates the project on behalf of five partners.
“Our facilities are connected by over 700 km of onshore and offshore pipeline and include a gas conditioning plant in Hides and a liquefaction and storage facility near Port Moresby,” a company statement said.
“The LNG production began in April 2014, months ahead of schedule.
“Since then, we have been reliably supplying LNG to four long-term major customers in the Asia region including China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Osaka Gas Company Ltd, Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc and CPC Corporation.
“Our operations have the capacity to produce more than 8.3 million tonnes of LNG – an increase of 20 percent from the original design specification of 6.9 million tonnes per annum.
“Over the life of the project, we estimate that the PNG LNG project will produce more than 11 trillion cubic feet of LNG.”