PNG's Oil and Gas Act Act to be reviewed, says PM O'Neill

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says the Government will review the Oil and Gas Act to protect the interest of the people especially landowners.

He was responding to the call by North Fly MP James Donald who suggested last week the two per cent stake as equity for landowners in projects such as the US$13 billion  Papua LNG must be increased to between 10 and 12 per cent.

“We will review the Oil and Gas Act,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill also assured the Gulf provincial government and landowners that they would be given a fair treatment in the allocation of additional shares in the Papua LNG project.

The country’s second LNG project is expected to provide job opportunities to more than 20,000 people during the construction phase.

O’Neill said the country would no longer have foreign currency issues when exporting resources.

Meanwhile, about 82 per cent of the 2600 employees of the PNG LNG project are Papua New Guineans.

ExxonMobil PNG public and government affairs manager Robert Aisi said the locals, both men and women, were employed based on individual merits.

Aisi, who was a PNG ambadassor to the United Nations for 13 years, said 22 per cent of the local employees were women.

“The local employees come from almost every part of the country,” he said, adding that their enthusiasm and dedication to their work were most commendable.

Aisi said the PNG LNG operator, ExxonMobil, had demonstrated to the world what the locals and PNG could achieve.

Speaking at the 65th convocation of the Institute of Banking and Business Management, he said ExxonMobil continued to provide equal employment opportunity to help improve the living standard of Papua New Guineans.

“PNG LNG and ExxonMobil are creating a great legacy for this country. They continue to build an internationally skilled capacity of locals,” he said.

“More than K800 million have been invested on infrastructure, developing social programmes and enhancing skills and knowledge of the locals.

SOURCE: THE NATIONAL/PACNEWS/PMW

Next :

Construction of Papua LNG in PNG to start in 2021


Previous Post Next Post

Advertisement

Advertisement