The cost of Santos’ proposed Papua LNG venture blew out by 50 per cent to $US18 billion before it was paused earlier this year to rework the design, according to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape, who wants to see construction start by the end of 2025.

Mr Marape said he understood that France’s TotalEnergies, which leads Papua LNG, had made “good progress” through the redesign and re-bidding process with contractors to get the cost of the venture down.