"We certainly think the LNG option provides superior value in terms of development options and we will certainly be moving forward and evaluating that," he said. "There is now an acknowledgement that an LNG development offers a better opportunity to capture the greatest value for the state, landowners and the project proponents." The PNG gas project involved extracting gas from a number of fields in the Southern Highlands of PNG and piping it over 3,000km to various gas markets on Australia's east coast. The concept has been around since 1997, but the project started to gather momentum when US-based ExxonMobil came onboard in 2001. The PNG pipeline project participants are Australia's Oil Search, ExxonMobil, Papua New Guinea's Mineral Resources Development Co (MRDC), and Japan's Nippon Oil Exploration. Mr Young said the pipeline suffered a serious setback when the AGL-Petronas Consortium (APC) decided not to proceed with construction of the Australian pipeline last August. "When APC pulled out last year as a result of some rising pressures... that was a serious setback and really triggered the alternative evaluations that we undertook," he added. "As far as the project participants are concerned we have all acknowledged that there are other opportunities to develop a superior value project and that's what we are going to be pursuing. We (ExxonMobil) have the view that LNG is the preferred option."