Prime Minister O'neill arives in Japan to welcome the arrival of first PNG LNG shipment

TOKYO: Prime Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday (02/06/14) arrived in Japan and was received by the Papua New Guinea Ambassador to Japan, H.E. Gabriel Dusava along with officials from the PNG Embassy.

Mr O’Neill is in Tokyo to welcome and receive the arrival of the first PNG Liquefied Natural Gas shipment that was loaded onto the tanker - ‘Spirit of Hela’ over a fortnight ago, and departed for Japan on May 25, 2014.

PNG LNG, operated by ExxonMobil affiliate ExxonMobil PNG Ltd., is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over its estimated 30 years of operations. The first cargo is for the foundation LNG customer, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) in Japan.

The Prime Minister and his delegation, shortly after arrival, attended a welcome reception at the Hotel New Otani, hosted by Amb. Dusava, where Mr O’Neill officially thanked the initial customers of the PNG LNG - Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Osaka Gas, for their tremendous contribution and support towards the PNG LNG project.

He also thanked ExxonMobil for its immense yet challenging efforts and firm assurance in seeing this first LNG shipment through.