Papua New Guinea M&A – TotalEnergies farms down Papua LNG as ExxonMobil takes operatorship

(Originally posted on September 7, 2026)

On 7 September 2026, TotalEnergies announced a major restructuring of the Papua LNG project ahead of the planned final investment decision later this year.

The transaction will see TotalEnergies farm down a 9.1% interest in Papua LNG, measured after the Papua New Guinea State back-in, to the existing project partners. At the same time, operatorship of the project will transfer from TotalEnergies to ExxonMobil, which already operates the adjacent PNG LNG project.

Following the State back-in and completion of the farm-down, the interests in Papua LNG are expected to be: ExxonMobil (34.1% + operator), Kumul Petroleum / MRDC (22.5%), Santos (21.0%), TotalEnergies (20%), ENEOS Xplora (2.4%).

The only consideration disclosed so far relates to Santos, which has entered into a binding agreement to acquire an additional 3.3% post-State-back-in interest from TotalEnergies for approximately US$189 million. The Santos acquisition is conditional on regulatory approvals and Papua LNG reaching FID, and will be effective from 1 January 2026. FID is currently planned for Q4 2026.

We have not seen consideration disclosed for the interests being acquired by ExxonMobil or ENEOS Xplora but, if we were to assume the same terms, it would imply a total value of US $521.2 million for the full 9.1% interest.