France’s Total and its partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Papua New Guinea government for the Papua LNG project.

Total noted that the memorandum of understanding defines the key terms of the gas agreement for the LNG project that is expected to be finalized by the first quarter of 2019.

Total is the operator of the Elk and Antelope onshore fields and is the largest shareholder in PRL-15 with a 31.1 percent interest, alongside partners ExxonMobil (28.3 percent) and Oil Search (17.7 percent), post the state back-in right of 22.5 percent.

The Papua LNG project will encompass two LNG trains of 2.7 mtpa each and will be developed in synergy with the existing PNG LNG project facilities.

Total and its partners have agreed to launch the first phase of the engineering studies of this project, the company said.