At the company's recent UBS Australian Resources and Energy Conference presentation, Oil Search revealed that its current modelling, using conservative oil prices, found that the company had sufficient funds.

Oil Search has a $US3 billion share of the project finance through the joint venture consortium's financing vehicle. Funds from this finance can be drawn down as the project advances and are secured by PNG LNG's assets.

Outside of this finance, Oil Search needs to make an equity contribution of $US1-1.3 billion.

Oil Search investor relations manager Ann Diamant told PetroleumNews.net's sister publication PNGIndustryNews.net the company does not have to put up all the debt or all the equity from day one, it will be spent as the project is constructed over a four to five-year period.

"But we will obviously be putting money in on a regular basis as the funding is required."

Oil Search will fund its equity contributions from its cash base of $US385 million, which will be increased by $US200 million from the sales of recent Middle East and North African assets, expected to be banked around August.

The company is also arranging corporate borrowing from the refinancing of $US400 million, while Diamant said company oil revenue cash flows are also around $US400 million a year.

The PNG LNG project ownership consists of ExxonMobil at 41.6%, Oil Search 34.1%, Santos 17.7%, AGL Energy 3.6% and Nippon Oil 1.8%.

Landowner interests hold the remaining 1.2%.

Oil Search expects first liquefied natural gas sales from the project - which will build a two-train 6.3 million tonne per annum liquefaction plant near Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea - to go to Asian markets in late 2013 or early 2014.