THE Petroleum Development License 7 (PDL 7) landowners of the PNG LNG project area will be the first group to access benefits under the Kroton Equity Option.
This was recently made possible through the establishment of the Kroton Laitepo Holdings Limited.
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| PNG LNG Site in Port Moresby , PNG |
It will become the vehicle which the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (KPHL) will transfer the benefits to.
KPHL managing director Wapu Sonk said the group’s benefits accumulated over five years was about K22,702,000.
“We are here to witness two things. One is the issue of the share certificate to their registered company and, second, the handover of the dummy cheque, for the preferential dividend that we have accumulated since 2017,” Sonk said.
He urged other beneficiary groups to complete their eligibility criteria compliance so they could also receive their benefits.
Kroton Laitepo chairman Andy Hamanga said the PDL 7 was made up of 277 beneficiary clans.
The company has sought advice to use the benefits to invest in sectors including oil and gas, and real estate.
Under the 2009 Kokopo UBSA agreement, the government granted Kroton equity beneficiary group an option to acquire an indirect 4.27 per cent interest in the PNG LNG project by buying 25.75 per cent of the shares in Kumul Petroleum Kroton Ltd, which then was known as Kroton No.2 Ltd.
It is the special purpose subsidiary of Kumul Petroleum that holds the State’s 16.57 per cent interest in the PNG LNG project.
According to Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd, the five provincial governments and landowners from the well-head, pipeline and plant site areas along the footprint of the PNG LNG project constitute the Kroton equity beneficiary group.