He said the 200ha Konebada Petroleum Park outside Port Moresby would require the use of cheap gas and that had to be sought locally.
He said that during the swearing in of the Konebada Petroleum Park Authority board on Wednesday.
“The Oil and Gas Act mentions something to do with domestic market obligations which can allow for cheap gas to be put into the park for the purpose of petrochemical. But all of these did not eventuate when we had the first (US$19 billion (K51bn) PNG LNG project,” Duban said.
“Now we’ve got the second LNG (Papua LNG) coming up.
“We want to connect the park to the opportunity that the domestic market obligation provides. And that is to ensure that there is some gas that is to be converted into power or petrochemical, that must be made available so it (gas) gets into the
park.”
“You look at Konebada Park today, there is no meaning to it, because there is no petroleum industry activity happening there. We want to make sure that Papua New Guinea, with LNG developments that are coming up, the park must be given some prominence so it reflects a greater gap at this point in time where a lot of leadership ministers, departments, key stakeholders must push for that park to at least have some cheap gas access.
“At the moment, it is basically sitting there, as a dormant park. When this park is developed, the money that it will bring to the economy would be massive.
“And those issues, once solved, we must try to create a paradigm shift in the industry.” The National