Reuters reported a source as saying the parties were close to reaching an agreement.
Santos acting CEO David Knox told journalists at the APPEA Conference today that he expected the deal to be finalised soon, and ExxonMobil vice-president established areas projects Alan Hirshberg told delegates that his company was now finalising fiscal and commercial agreement for PNG LNG.
Meanwhile, Exxon's Port Moresby-based spokeswoman Anna Schluze said negotiations were still underway and as soon as the gas agreement was resolved, the company would move into front-end engineering design.
The source reportedly said that "the earliest timeframe would be by mid-April. The Government wants to finalise the issue by the end of the month".
"We are talking about small percentages here. It won't be difficult to reach a middle ground."
Partner Oil Search expects the project will provide a large, stable income source for more than 20 years after the first LNG sales. These are expected to go to Asian markets in late 2013 or early 2014.
The PNG LNG project ownership consists of ExxonMobil at 41.6%, Oil Search at 34.1%, Santos 17.7%, AGL Energy 3.6%, and Nippon Oil 1.8%. Landowner interests hold the remaining 1.2%.
