Papua New Guinea a natural gas playground?

Bloomberg noted over the holiday interim that InterOil Corp., a Canadian energy firm whose share price rose more than fivefold in 2009, will construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Papua New Guinea “at less than half the cost of a rival project” in the country, the $15 billion Exxon Mobil Corp.-led venture.  Per InterOil’s VP of capital markets:

“Papua New Guinea’s economy may double in size because of the Exxon-operated project.  The InterOil venture could boost the nation’s GDP by as much as another 40%.”

InterOil officials report that the government will have a 20.5% stake in the project.