The Canadian petroleum company InterOil says it has begun negotiations with the oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil to develop natural-gas fields and a liquefied natural gas plant in Papua New Guinea.
InterOil has been facing prolonged pressure from the PNG government to find a major company with experience in building and operating a multibillion-dollar LNG plant.
The Minister of Petroleum and Energy William Duma last year threatened to terminate an agreement with InterOil if it persisted with plans to develop the gas with what he described as a piecemeal arrangement.
Exxon already leads a 19 billion US dollar LNG project which spans across several PNG provinces and is due to come on stream next year.
