The most affected population will be the Huli people.

UPDATE 2022 - Papua LNG (TotalEnergies)

In 2019 Total SA, now TotalEnergies, and the PNG government inked an agreement to develop a new project called Papua LNG to exploit the Elk and Antelope gas fields in Baimuru, Gulf Province, the traditional lands of Pawaian people. The extracted gas is to be transported via a pipeline to the existing PNG LNG terminal near Port Moresby, where a third liquefaction train would be added to accommodate the increased capacity. The operator of the project is TotalEnergies through its Total E&P PNG subsidiary (31.1%), other partners are ExxonMobil (28.7%), Papua New Guinea government (22.5%) and Santos Limited (17.7%) [1].

Like the PNG LNG project this new extractivist development is ridden with promises of local economic development, which are welcomed by some in the community but resisted by other landowners demanding to receive a fair part of the benefits of the project. These landowners have threatened to block the wellheads and shut-down operations. Additionally, the landowners accuse the french company of adopting "divide and rule tactics" [2].

The government is totally on the side of the multinational and it has urged claimants not to protest. "As leaders of that community, they needed to be wary of the words they use and the actions they take, because the project is going to be there for the long term..." said the Minister for Petroleum, Krenenga Kua [2].

Local villagers accuse the national political leaders to rip the benefits of the country's resources and denounce they have not been informed of the project planned in their lands. There is also a confusing process to vet which clans are the rightful owners of the land, as traditional ownership regimes clash with a western-imposed conception of property [3].

The haphazard process of stablishing who and by how much benefits from the new wave of gas extractivism has caused political turmoil at the highest spheres of government, leading to the resignation of the finance minister two days after the signing of the deal, who ultimately forged an aliance with the opposition to force a change of government and become the new prime minister two months later [2][3].

Citing concerns of the failed benefit sharing scheme conflict with PNG LNG project in Southern Highlands, Chief Solomon Lae from Kapai Aikavalavi village said "Our people in this country, they never learn from the previous experiences. Southern Highlanders are waiting ten years and are yet to receive royalties. The leaders of this country, they're elected to represent our people. But that is never the case. They're milking us. Daylight robbery." [3]

At the moment of publishing this update TotalEnergies was pushing forward with the project with the first phase of front-end engineering and design (FEED) [4].

The construction of the pipeline considers 700 kilometers connecting the provinces to the port (248 km onshore and 407 km offshore).

The project is estimated to obtain $ 20 billion revenues during the first year of extraction in 2014 coming from 200 million barrels of liquefied gas.

,809 hectares will be cleared, half in areas not previously disturbed by oil and gas developments hectares of primary tropical forest will be cleared and an estimated 86% of primary tropical forest losses Pipeline will cross 26 major water crossings, 138 minor water crossings and will cross the Kutubu Wildlife Management Area.

Project is estimated to emit 3,100,000 tons of CO2 every year in direct emissions

UPDATE 2022 TotalEnergies' Papua LNG has an associated investment of $13bn and is expected to exploit reserves ranging from 6.2 to 7.5 Tcf of gas.