ExxonMobil's ambitions for a three-train expansion at the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas plant have been given a boost by a significant increase in gas reserves at the P'nyang gas field.

Having drilled the successful P’nyang South-2 appraisal well recently, the US operator has more than tripled the field’s low estimate of its contingent gas resource to 3.51 trillion cubic feet, while the best estimate contingent gas resource has jumped to 4.36 Tcf.

The resources upgrade, which was done following an independent recertification study by Netherland Sewell & Associates, “supports ExxonMobil’s discussions with its joint venture partners on a three-train expansion concept for the PNG LNG plant”, said the US giant.

The idea is to build one new train for gas from the P’nyang field and other fields dedicated to PNG LNG, and two new trains for gas from the Elk-Antelope fields, which are being developed by French giant Total and referred to as the Papua LNG project.

The development concept would produce an additional 8 million tonnes per annum of LNG, which would double the current output of PNG LNG.

“We are working closely with our joint venture partners and the government to progress the P’nyang field development proposal and secure the licences needed to develop this world-class resource,” said Liam Mallon, president of ExxonMobil Development Company.

Co-venturer Oil Search said that, combined with gas resources at the Elk-Antelope field, it believes there is 11 Tcf of certified gross best estimate gas to support the LNG expansion. Importantly, there is in excess of 8 Tcf of low estimate resource, which will greatly assist marketing activities within each venture, added Oil Search.

There are several joint ventures involved in the expansion — the P’nyang owners, the Elk-Antelope owners and the PNG LNG owners.

The P’nyang owners are ExxonMobil on 49%, Oil Search on 38.5% and JX Nippon on 12.5%.

The Elk-Antelope joint venture comprises Total on 40.1%, ExxonMobil on 36.5%, Oil Search on 22.8% and minority parties with 0.6%.

The PNG LNG facility is owned by ExxonMobil on 33.2%, Oil Search on 29%, Kumul Petroleum on 16.8%, Santos on 13.5%, JX Nippon Oil on 4.7% and MRDC (PNG landowners) on 2.8%.

Oil Search reiterated that all three joint ventures are targeting entry into the front-end engineering and design phase of the expansion in the second half of this year.

There will be several components to the expansion — the new LNG trains, the upstream development of the gas fields, the onshore pipelines connecting to existing PNG LNG infrastructure, and the offshore pipelines to the LNG plant near Port Moresby.

Meanwhile, the PNG LNG project has resumed production from one of two trains after carrying out repairs following the severe and deadly earthquake that struck on 26 February.

Production will increase in the coming weeks, and LNG cargo deliveries will restart soon.

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ExxonMobil plans get big boost in Papua New Guinea