Lenders jostle for mega PNG LNG financing deal

(Australian Financial Review, Sydney, 5 December 2017) Key project debt lenders have been giving their passports and travel insurers a workout as they troop up to Papua New Guinea to get to grips with what could be the region's biggest financing since the record US$20 billion deal for Ichthys LNG. While the final configuration of the next stage of LNG expansion in PNG is yet to be settled, those behind the circa US$17 billion project - primarily ExxonMobil, Total and Oil Search - are already well advanced. In considering funding export credit agencies are again expected to be well in evidence, while the backing of two oil majors and the sheer size of the project count in favour of commercial lender interest.