JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (JX Nippon), through its wholly owned subsidiary JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (JX Papua), has agreed to acquire 2.58% stake in the PRL15 license in the Gulf Province onshore Papua New Guinea, from TotalEnergies.

Under the farm-in agreement, JX Nippon will purchase minority stake in the PRL15 from TotalEnergies’ wholly owned subsidiary TotalEnergies EP PNG.

The deal is conditional on receiving approval of Department of Petroleum and Energy of Papua New Guinea. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

The PRL15 license comprises the Elk-Antelope gas fields, with gas from the fields planned to be commercialised by the Papua LNG Project.

Upon completion of the transaction, JX Papua will hold 2.58% stake in PRL15 while TotalEnergies will have operatorship stake of 37.55%. Other partners include ExxonMobil with 37.04% stake and Santos with 22.83% interest.

In a press statement, JX Nippon said: “Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is included as a part of the development plan and the native CO₂ will be removed at the upstream central processing facilities and reinjected in the reservoirs from day one.”

With anticipated production capacity of 5.6 million metric tonnes of LNG per year, the Papua LNG Project will include nine production wells and a gas processing plant, a 320km pipeline, and liquefaction units in Port Moresby.

The gas will be subsequently supplied to Caution Bay near Port Moresby, where e-trains are planned to be built in the existing PNG LNG liquefaction plant site.

The partners plan to make investment decision for the Papua LNG project by the end of 2023 or early 2024.