It is understood the PNG government is "extremely disturbed" by the actions of Exxon, Santos and AGL in arranging gas contracts from reserves within Australia.
Conflict of interest allegations have arisen because Exxon has stakes in the Gippsland Basin and the Cooper Basin, which were the big winners from the deals struck this week. Santos, the Cooper Basin operator, also has a substantial stake in Origin Energy's coalbed methane entity, the Oil Company of Australia, which will supply AGL's third gas supply stream.
The PNG is angry that during intense negotiations over the gas project, it was assured by the companies that they were committed to bringing the PNG project into production as quickly as possible.
