PNG treasurer, Bart Philemon, said the government would buy into the multi-billion dollar pipeline.

PNG minister for petroleum and energy, Sir Moi Avei, said PNG would take up an option and assume at least a 6% interest in the pipeline.

Senior executives from the main partners in the project, Oil Search and Exxon Mobil, told the Australia-PNG Business Forum at Palm Cove, Queensland that they were confident sufficient customers to buy PNG gas would be found now that front-end engineering and design work on the pipeline had begun.

Oil Search managing director Peter Botten also told the forum that PNG would increase its oil exports next year, reversing a nine year decline.

Oil Search, which is the country’s largest oil and gas producer, has been very successful in making new oil discoveries over the past eighteen months as well as imrpoving performance at existing fields – such as Kutubu, Moran and Gobe – and developing the South East Mananda and North West Moran fields.

Botten said he also expected a decision to be made within two weeks for the go-ahead on the design of a gas pipeline to Port Moresby to supply gas to a proposed petrochemical plant.