Reform is in the air in Papua New Guinea, with the country’s resources sector facing major legislative changes. On the other hand, the government faces its own reform challenges if it is to secure the funding it needs to address its budget deficit.

With Papua New Guinea’s government deciding that the country must now to learn to live with COVID-19, one could argue that the first chapter of PNG’s encounter with the global pandemic has come to an end.

You always have to be prepared for surprises in PNG, but it certainly looks like the ExxonMobil-led P’nyang gas project will not proceed in its current form, following the Government’s withdrawal from negotiations over the gas agreement for the project.

In a country like PNG, where even the National Population and Housing Census (due again next year) is problematic, market data and intelligence is hard to come by. 

So, the Papua LNG project has been given the all-clear by Minister for Petroleum, Kerenga Kua. The debate about who ‘buckled’ and who kept their nerve will take place, no doubt, but the end of the government’s review into the gas agreement signed in April is to be welcomed.