Angry Papua New Guinea landowners have knocked down three power pylons halting production at Barrick's Porgera gold mine on the eve of a separate multi-billion dollar deal with ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil-led partners are set to make a final investment decision today on a 30-year liquefied natural gas or LNG project.
But Southern Highlands landowners living near the Hides site fought among themselves last weekend damaging Oil Search plant that supplies power to Barrick's gold mine in neighbouring Enga province.
Oil Search is one of the companies involved in the ExxonMobil project.
AAP understands Hides landowners are angry they missed out on a Benefit Sharing Agreement meeting for the 16 billion US dollar LNG project.
A Barrick spokesman told AAP a work team was already fixing the pylons.
On the weekend, ExxonMobil announced Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated had purchased approximately 1.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 20 years.
And China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation signed a deal to buy two million tonnes a year over 20 years.
The LNG project will supply gas to Sinopec's Shandong terminal each year.
