ExxonMobil says that its 19 billion US dollar LNG project in Papua New Guinea is ninety percent complete and on schedule to deliver its first cargo of liquefied natural gas in the second half of next year.
PNG LNG project executive, Decie Autin, says they have started the commissioning phase at the LNG plant in preparation for the first production in 2014.
She says this includes sending gas from Oil Search's Kutubu Central Processing Facility to the LNG plant to provide power and enable testing and commissioning of key facilities and equipment.
The project will develop gas and condensate resources in the Hides, Angore and Juha fields and associated gas resources in the operating oil fields of Kutubu, Agogo, Gobe and Moran in Southern Highlands, Hela and Western Provinces.
The gas will be transported by pipeline to a gas liquefaction plant 25 kilometres north-west of Port Moresby.
The company has binding LNG sales agreements with four Asian buyers.