Deal Timing

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Deal timing

Monday, 27 May 2013 AN agreement between ExxonMobil and InterOil may take some time yet. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. Photo by Michael Cairnduff. After more than 18 months, the investment bank-run process to find a government-acceptable LNG operator for InterOil’s Elk-Antelope discoveries in Papua New Guinea has led to the start of exclusive negotiations between PNG LNG operator ExxonMobil and InterOil.  InterOil did not reveal the length of the negotiation period in its milestone news on Friday, but Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told parliament it was for up to 60 days. This means an agreement may be reached before the end of July.  There are a lot of possibilities for commercialising the Elk-Antelope field. While piping the gas to the existing PNG LNG infrastructure may be quickest method, InterOil may still seek to base a 3.8 million tonnes per annum Gulf LNG project on this field while the PNG government is interested in domestic power generation.