EXXONMOBIL will use four chartered vessels to transport the liquefied natural gas from Papua New Guinea to its main markets in Asia, the company says.
The vessels, two of which are newly-built, have capacities estimated to be 177,000 cubic metres.
PNG LNG project spokesperson Rebecca Arnold said: “We will charter four vessels – two of these will be newly-built, and this will be done in China … they are still under construction.”
She said the ships would call at the LNG plant site wharf and load up every three to seven days.
The PNG LNG project will produce as much as 6.9 million tonnes of LNG at peak capacity once it starts operations next year.
Convinced by a resource-rich nation like PNG, ExxonMobil told The National earlier that the project was well placed to meet some of the global demand for LNG.
Separately, partner Oil Search said last week that Exxon had secured additional funding of US$1.5 billion (K3.6 billion) to cover last November’s cost blow out.
Oil Search said the estimated cost of the project remains unchanged at US$19 billion (K45.9 billion).
Managing director Peter Botten said: “We are pleased that the supplemental project financing has been completed and all funding is now in place to complete the project on time.”