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Sydney - Australian energy firm Santos said Friday the first exports from its huge $19bn gas project in Papua New Guinea will soon depart for Japan, four years after the joint venture was given the go-ahead.
The massive project is operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil.
Santos chairman Ken Borda told shareholders at their annual meeting in Adelaide that the first shipment was a "great outcome for this extraordinary project", which had faced numerous hurdles including flooding during the construction phase.
"I am pleased to announce that the first export cargo is being loaded now and will soon depart PNG bound for Japan," he said.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said on Thursday the project - the largest development ever undertaken in the impoverished Pacific country - was "something for all of Papua New Guinea to be proud of".
"This project puts PNG on the world stage as a country that can work with foreign investors to deliver projects on time," he said at a ceremony marking the first shipment.
The project will supply four major customers in Taiwan, Japan and China and is expected to produce an expected 255bn cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over its 30-year life.
It includes gas production and processing facilities in PNG's Southern Highlands and Western Provinces, liquefication and storage facilities on the Gulf of Papua and more than 700km of pipelines.
ExxonMobil has the largest stake at 33.2%. Its partners include Oil Search (29%), the PNG government (16.6%), Santos (13.5%), Japan's Nippon Oil Corp (4.7%) and local landowners (2.8%).
The project will quadruples Santos' LNG production and, together with the company's Gladstone gas development in Australia, is expected to double its operating cash flows over the next two years, Borda said.
