Papua New Guinea says it is only weeks away from finalizing a deal for a giant liquefied natural gas project.

PNG's Deputy Prime Minister, Puka Temu, says the $10 billion plant to export LNG would come on stream by 2014.

He says the financial terms for the project are nearly complete.

"If in the next two weeks we conclude negotiations for the LNG project with Exxon Mobil, Santos and Oil Search, we are near to concluding the negotiations on the fiscal regime for the LNG project," he said.

"The first shipment of gas will be 2014. That will quadruple the GDP of Papua New Guinea."

The project aims to export $6.3 million tonnes of LNG from Papua New Guinea each year.

© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Related Project
PNG LNG Project
Facility Type: LNG Owner: ExxonMobil; Oil Search Limited; Santos; Nippon Oil Exploration; AGL; MRDC); Eda Oil
Scope: New Construction Location: Port Moresby Papua New Guinea