TotalEnergies will sell a 9.1% stake in the Papua LNG joint venture to its partners and hand over operatorship of the project to ExxonMobil, the French energy major said on Monday.
The company, which co-owns the project with Exxon, Santos, Kumul Petroleum/MRDC and ENEOS Xplora, said it would sell shares to its partners in proportion to their existing interests, while retaining a 20% stake in the venture. TotalEnergies did not disclose the sale price for the transaction.
Separately, TotalEnergies said it was nearing a final investment decision on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, noting that contractual and commercial hurdles have now been cleared. CEO Patrick Pouyanné had said in July that he was targeting a final decision by November, suggesting the project is moving closer to a definitive stage after years of development.
Papua LNG forms part of TotalEnergies’ broader portfolio of projects aimed at growing lower-cost LNG supplies. The project is expected to produce 5.6 million metric tons per year (Mtpa) from the Elk and Antelope fields in Papua New Guinea’s Gulf Province, with output mainly destined for Asian buyers.
Exxon, which already operates the neighbouring PNG LNG plant, will take over as the operator of the Papua LNG project going forward. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies’ offtake share, which gives it access to 1.5 Mtpa of LNG for its own portfolio, will remain unchanged despite the reduction in its equity stake.
TotalEnergies said it has completed the tendering process for engineering, procurement and construction work on the project, with contracts now pending approval from its partners.
The company added that close to US$4 billion in cost savings has been achieved since 2024 through the rebidding of those contracts and the optimisation of the project’s design, bringing overall capital spending down to approximately US$14 billion.
In addition, the companies have finalised an amended gas agreement with Papua New Guinea’s government and established an LNG marketing joint venture with Kumul Petroleum to sell 2.4 Mtpa of the project’s total 5.6 Mtpa output.
