Papua New Guinea LNG Terminal

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Papua New Guinea LNG Terminal, also known as PNG LNG, is an LNG export terminal in Papua New Guinea with units that are cancelled (confirmed) and operating.

Location

Table 1: Location details

Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
T1	Port Moresby, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea	-9.33862, 147.01825 (exact)
T2	Port Moresby, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea	-9.33862, 147.01825 (exact)
T3	Port Moresby, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea	-9.33862, 147.01825 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the terminal:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Infrastructure details

mtpa = million tonnes per year

Name	Facility type	Status	Capacity	Total terminal capacity	Offshore	Associated infrastructure
T1	export	operating	4.15 mtpa	8.3 mtpa	False	PNG Highlands-Port Moresby Gas Pipeline; Angore gas field, Papua New Guinea highlands
T2	export	operating	4.15 mtpa	8.3 mtpa	False	PNG Highlands-Port Moresby Gas Pipeline; Angore gas field, Papua New Guinea highlands
T3	export	cancelled (confirmed)	2.6 mtpa	8.3 mtpa	False	PNG Highlands-Port Moresby Gas Pipeline; Angore gas field, Papua New Guinea highlands

Table 3: Cost

Name	Facility type	Cost	Total known terminal costs
T1	export	US$9,500,000,000	US$19,000,000,000
T2	export	US$9,500,000,000	US$19,000,000,000
T3	export	–	US$19,000,000,000

Financing

No financing data available.

Table 4: Project timeline

FID = Final Investment Decision, used by some developers to indicate a project will move forward

Name	Facility type	Status	Proposal year	FID year	Construction year	Operating year	Inactive year
T1	export	operating	–	–	–	2014	–
T2	export	operating	–	–	–	2014	–
T3	export	cancelled (confirmed)	–	2023 (Pre-FID)	–	–	–

Ownership

Table 5: Ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Owners	Parent companies	Operator
T1	export	operating	PNG LNG Inc [100%]	Santos Ltd [39.9%]; Kumul Petroleum (Kroton) Ltd [19.4%]; small shareholder(s) [7.5%]; Exxon Mobil Corp	PNG LNG
T2	export	operating	PNG LNG Inc [100%]	Santos Ltd [39.9%]; Kumul Petroleum (Kroton) Ltd [19.4%]; small shareholder(s) [7.5%]; Exxon Mobil Corp	PNG LNG
T3	export	cancelled (confirmed)	PNG LNG Inc [100%]	Santos Ltd [39.9%]; Kumul Petroleum (Kroton) Ltd [19.4%]; small shareholder(s) [7.5%]; Exxon Mobil Corp	PNG LNG

Background

The Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (LNG) project was constructed at a cost of US$19 billion. The project involves extracting natural gas from the Papua New Guinea highlands, where it is processed before being sent via some 700 kilometres of pipeline to the PNG LNG plant in Port Moresby. The gas is then liquefied and transferred into ships for sale offshore. Construction for the project began in 2010, and the first gas shipment was made in May 2014.

The terminal has two trains with a capacity of 8.3 mtpa.

According to ExxonMobil's InterOil, there is enough gas between the Elk-Antelope and P’nyang gas fields in Papua New Guinea to justify three LNG trains by 2023 to 2025, in addition to the existing two trains at PNG LNG.

In July 2020, the Australian partner Oil Search disclosed that a majority of workers at the delayed expansion project have been idled due to adverse economic conditions brought on by COVID-19.

Ownership changes

In August 2021, Santos Limited acquired Oil Search, granting Santos a 42.5% stake in the Papua New Guinea LNG project. In September 2022, Santos said that it had received a US$1.4 billion offer from Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited for a 5% stake in the project. In August 2023, Santos and Kumul executed a binding sale agreement for a 2.5% stake sold from Santos to Kumul, with Santos maintaining a majority 39.9% stake.

In February 2024, Santos and Kumul amended the terms of sale of the 2.6% stake: in January 2024 Kumul has paid $352 million to Santos, an equivalent of a 1.6& interest, to allow partial completion of the transaction, while the amendment provides additional time for Kumul to pay the remaining purchase price. Until final completion, Santos retains control of the entity holding the 2.6%. Kumul has previously secured funding for the purchase in January 2024. As of early June 2024, the sale did not appear to have been completed.

In November 2024, Santos executed a binding sale agreement to sell Kumul a 2.6% participating interest in PNG LNG for a total purchase consideration comprising cash and the assumption of around USD 160 million of project finance debt. The company confirmed the completion of its acquisition of additional equity in the PNG LNG project from Santos on November 4. As a result, the firm’s shareholding increased to 19.2%.

Train 3

A third train of 2.6 mtpa has been proposed but it was reported in February 2020 that talks between ExxonMobil and the government had broken down over the issue of profit-sharing.

In April 2020, the energy and shipping brokerage Poten & Partners disclosed that the final investment decision (FID) for Train 3 had been delayed beyond the original FID timeframe of 2020-2021. It cited COVID-19, plunging demand and the crash in oil prices as the reasons for the delay. It was previously reported, in February 2019, that the export credit agencies of Japan, South Korea, China and Australia were in discussions over the financing of the terminal's proposed expansion. In 2010, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, China Exim Bank and Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Australia were all significant financial backers of Phase 1 of the project alongside commercial banks.

In February 2021, it was reported that the partner companies were no longer working on adding a third train to the project and were instead interested in the Papua LNG Terminal.

As of May 2024, there have not been any new developments related to this proposal and it is presumed to be cancelled.

Opposition

Landowners and communities displaced by the project were promised benefits such as income streams and infrastructure development. Few of these promises have been fulfilled, however; for example, the township of Komo contains a newly-built hospital building that has no beds, staff, or fuel for the building's generator.

As a result, leaders of area communities organised to blockade the LNG facility by shutting off gas taps at several wells in August of 2016. Security guards attempted to stop the blockade, however, the leaders were armed. They then entered the plant site, locked site gates, and demanded the government honour original project agreements. Armed unrest over the project's failure to deliver agreed-upon benefits to the local population is ongoing.

In January 2019 it was reported that royalty payments from the project to local residents have been much smaller than had been promised by the government.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of LNG terminals, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.