SYDNEY， July 18 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea centric Oil Search Ltd has been pipped by a "superior proposal" for InterOil by U.S. giant ExxonMobil， heating up the Pacific's oil and gas space.


Oil Search had become "king maker" in the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) space after obtaining the backing of French major Total SA for U.S. based InterOil and it's lucrative PNG asset of the Elk Antelope field.


Total had been looking to exploit the field in a bid to rival Exxon's PNG LNG project which came online last year， though with Oil Search on board， it was believed the two projects could have been amalgamated.