Abadi LNG Project Clears Key Milestone but Faces Uncertainty

The Abadi LNG project, one of Asia's most delayed liquefied natural gas developments, has cleared its last major technical hurdle before a decision that will determine whether it gets built. Worley finished front-end engineering design on the $21 billion gas development in September 2026, marking genuine progress after years of delay.

The project began life as a floating LNG concept but was later scrapped for an onshore plant, forcing substantial redesign and renegotiation. Since then, Abadi has been stalled due to various reasons, including fiscal and contractual talks with the Indonesian government over production-sharing terms, domestic gas allocation mandates, and local-content rules.

The current timeline looks different from earlier moments of momentum. Four conditions have shifted in the project's favour: environmental approval was granted in February 2026, FEED is now formally underway across multiple packages, the project holds National Strategic Project designation, and the post-2022 LNG price environment has revived the project economics.

While these factors narrow the range of unknowns that must be resolved before committing $21 billion of capital, they do not guarantee a final investment decision (FID) by 2027. The project's history suggests a structural tendency to slip due to fiscal, ownership, or market obstacles.