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The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), is to buy a 3.5% stake in the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (LNG) project from Oil Search in a deal believed to be worth around US$1 billion.
The Australian newspaper reported that the Australian energy company was in advanced talks with IPIC and both parties are confident that a deal could be reached in the near future.
“If this transaction goes ahead, our balance sheet is extremely strong,” Oil Search MD, Peter Botten is reported as saying.
The deal involves IPIC buying Oil Search’s stake in PNG LNG through the development licence covering the onshore Kutubu field.
PNG LNG is a $12.5 billion project that is set to produce 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG for shipment to international markets.
The gas is to be transported to the plant by a 440-mile pipeline (250 miles subsea). Liquids recovered at the existing Hides gas plant would be combined with crude oil from the oil operations and transported through the existing oil export system to the Kumul platform, an offshore tanker loading facility.
Current participating interests in the PNG LNG project are ExxonMobil (Esso Highlands Limited as operator) 41.5%, Oil Search 34%, Santos 17.7%, AGL 3.6%, Nippon Oil 1.8%, Mineral Resources Development Company 1.2% and Eda Oil 0.2%.
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