Twinza targeting FID for Pasca offshore gas project before PNG election

With pre-construction engineering now complete and contractor bids received, the Pasca Joint Venture is targeting a final investment decision (FID) for the Pasca A gas project before PNG enters election mode in the second quarter of next year.

Roppe Uyassi, CEO PNG for operator Twinza, says financing is the last major piece to arrange before FID. The project will involve debt and equity from a likely combination of banks, credit agencies and development institutions.

“Pasca is now a very well-advanced project in the Gulf of Papua – and represents the first offshore project in PNG,” Uyassi tells Business Advantage PNG. “With design engineering largely complete and contractor discussions advanced, financing is now the final leg on our pathway to FID.”

Twinza checked off an important milestone earlier this year with the completion of front-end engineering and design. All bids for the major engineering, procurement and construction contracts were received by April, and a decision is now imminent. Uyassi says the Twinza team has engaged heavily with bidders, and is looking at securing contracts that incorporate on-site installation and commissioning.

“People are more aggressively aware of the need to secure molecules.”

Uyassi notes that the financing landscape has shifted since the PNG LNG gas project’s construction period in the early 2010s, with geopolitical considerations playing an increasingly important role.

“While appetite for upstream hydrocarbon funding remains selective, we have noted broad interest for our project,” he says.

“One of the key drivers is increasing desire from buyers, particularly following the US-Iran conflict, to diversify supply dependence from a single source or region.

“People are more aggressively aware of the need to secure molecules. Carbon mitigation commitments remain important, and now people are also weighing up energy security.”

The LPG opportunity

Twinza’s Roppe Uyassi.

Pasca is structured as a two-phase development. The first phase, which is planned to enter production by 2030, will deliver around seven million barrels-equivalent of hydrocarbon liquids per year, primarily as condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The second phase will add a floating liquefied natural gas facility, producing up to 750,000 tonnes of LNG per year.

Uyassi says rising demand across East Asia for LPG and condensate has driven interest in Pasca’s first phase. He notes that LPG powers vehicles, homes and small businesses from Japan to Thailand, and condensate is an essential precursor for diesel and jet fuel.

“Not only has the price increased; the interest has also increased,” Uyassi says.

LPG, he argues, is also the right product for PNG’s distributed market – it has smaller infrastructure requirements than piped gas, is widely used for household cooking and heating, and is a viable alternative to diesel for power generation in remote communities.

“We’re a project of modest size, but we will have an outsized impact. For example, our project has the potential to massively increase PNG’s adoption of our domestically sourced LPG.”

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The project reached another major milestone on 13 August when PNG’s Minister for Petroleum, Jimmy Maladina, approved the Pasca National Content Plan. The approval satisfies a key requirement of the Pasca Gas Agreement signed between Twinza and the PNG government in December 2024 and is a prerequisite to the award of a Petroleum Development Licence for the project.

This is the latest in a number of milestones Twinza has achieved this year. In February, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Kumul Petroleum Holdings and Hevehe Petroleum (a special purpose vehicle of the Mineral Resources Development Company, which has agreed to acquire a 50 per cent stake in the Pasca JV) to jointly work on gas aggregation opportunities across the Gulf of Papua, including shared infrastructure for domestic use and export.

In March, Twinza announced the completion of a capital restructuring, which saw senior lenders convert the majority of their debt into ordinary shares of the company.

With PNG’s 2027 election cycle looming, Uyassi is hoping to bank additional milestones, including the all-important FID, while the political window is open.

“I’m hoping we get things done this year. Fingers crossed,” he says.