Exxon's US$15 Billion Papua New Guinea Gas Project Half Finished

The ExxonMobil Corp.-led (XOM) PNG LNG gas-export venture in Papua New Guinea is about half finished and remains within its US$15 billion budget, project partner Oil Search Ltd. (OSH.AU) said Wednesday.

Exxon operates and owns 33.2% of the development, Oil Search owns 29.0% and Australia's Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) owns 13.5% with the rest split between Nippon Oil, a unit of JX Holdings Inc. (5020.TO), and PNG government and landowner interests.

The partners officially approved construction of the project, set to supply cleaner-burning fuel to customers in Japan, China and Taiwan, in December 2009 and want it finished by 2014.

"We remain on schedule to deliver within what is a relatively broad window of 2014 first LNG sales," Oil Search Chief Executive Peter Botten told the Citigroup investment conference.

"We will be able to narrow that window when we reach around 70% of project completion and that probably will be some time in the third quarter next year," Botten said.

-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; Ross.Kelly@dowjones.com

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