Oil and gas producer Oil Search is set for a strong move towards Papua New Guinea gas pipeline for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with backing from ExxonMobil Corp and BG Group.

Australian Gas Light Company, the project partner, cut back on the development work after rejecting the new proposal for gas pipeline and said would not want to be a long-term owner of the asset.

Oil Search CEO Peter Botten said if the pipeline does not go ahead, his company plans to commercialize its PNG gas reserves by developing a petrochemical project, and in the middle-to-long term range, by developing an LNG project.

Energy