Speaking to journalists after addressing the Merrill Lynch Australia Investment Conference in New York, Oil Search managing director Peter Botten said he expected Santos would join the project before the project sanction was due.
Sanction is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2006 or early in the second quarter.
The PNG Gas Project participants are currently: Oil Search (54.2%); ExxonMobil (39.4% - Esso Highlands as operator); Nippon Oil Exploration (3.4%); and MRDC (3% - a PNG company representing landowner interests).
