France's Total eyes Papua LNG FID in 2023 as project teams remobilize

France's Total hopes to move to a final investment decision on the planned two-train 5.6 million mt/year capacity Papua LNG project in Papua New Guinea in 2023, it said May 5, as it begins to remobilize project teams after a one-year delay due to COVID-19.

Papua LNG -- which will take gas from the Elk and Antelope gas fields -- will move to the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage in early 2022, Total said.

"I confirm that this project is ranking very high in Total's portfolio given its proximity to growing Asian LNG markets and we will dedicate all necessary resources," Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.

The announcement followed a meeting in Paris with a delegation from Papua New Guinea led by Deputy Prime Minister Samuel Basil.

"After a year of delay because of COVID-19, the government of Papua New Guinea and Total are pleased to announce the remobilization of the project teams and of other required resources," Total said.

"The objective is to launch the FEED early 2022 and to prepare for final investment decision in 2023," it said.

The announcement follows the signature and the reconfirmation of the Papua LNG gas agreement in 2019, and the signature of a fiscal stability agreement and award of the license extension in February this year.

In Total's statement, Basil said the country's government pledged its "full support" to the project. "I am pleased with the outcome of this meeting with clear implementation plans," he said.

The Total-operated Elk and Antelope fields have been fully appraised and will supply gas via a 320 km pipeline to the Caution Bay site, already home to the existing ExxonMobil-operated 8.3 million mt/year capacity PNG LNG facility.

Total's Papua LNG project will be integrated to the existing PNG LNG facilities in Caution Bay, Total said.

Total operates the Elk and Antelope fields and is the largest shareholder of the PRL-15 permit with a 31.1% interest, alongside partners ExxonMobil (28.7%) and Oil Search (17.7%). The government of Papua New Guinea has a back-in right of 22.5%.