PNG LNG Project Completes Financial Closure

The PNG LNG project has successfully achieved financial completion, by satisfying all of the financial completion tests set forth in the project’s financing arrangements, ExxonMobil said Friday.

“This is an important milestone in the project’s history. We shipped our first LNG cargo months ahead of schedule, and have now achieved financial completion,” said Andrew Barry, ExxonMobil PNG Limited Managing Director. “With the successful achievement of this important milestone, completion guarantees will be released, loan repayments will commence, and co-venture distributions will be permitted according to the terms of the financing agreements.”

The PNG LNG project has now shipped 65 LNG cargoes to its customers. The project is expected to load more than 90 cargoes in 2015, Oil Search, a partner in the ExxonMobil led project said in its quarterly earnings report late last month.

The PNG LNG project is an integrated development that includes gas production and processing facilities in the Southern Highlands, Hela, Western, Gulf and Central provinces of Papua New Guinea. More than 700 kilometres of pipeline connect the facilities, which include a gas conditioning plant in Hides, and liquefaction and storage facilities near Port Moresby with project capacity of 6.9 million tonnes of LNG per year.

The Project is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over the estimated 30 years of operations.

The project will provide a long-term supply of LNG to four major customers in the Asia region including China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO), Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., and CPC Corp. Taiwan.