Bougainville Copper talks with Bougainville government and landowners about re-opening Panguna, investors confident in PNG despite low global energy prices, and more improvements on the way for Jacksons Airport. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.
Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), under a new regime, is keen on re-opening the Panguna mine with promises of more equitable sharing of wealth with landowners and the Autonomous Bougainville Government, reports the Post Courier. Company chairman Robert Burns was in Buka last week and met with Bougainville cabinet ministers and landowner groups to put forward BCL’s proposals for start-up by year 2020. BCL’s proposals indicate it will inject US$350 million (K1 billion) a year to the Bougainville Government.
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ExxonMobil PNG’s Andrew Barry
The Managing Director of ExxonMobil PNG, Andrew Barry, has said he is ‘very excited’ about the company’s recent acquisition of InterOil. Barry indicated ExxonMobil sees further exploration opportunities. ‘We are excited by the recent results of the Muruk-1 exploration well operated by Oil Search, which confirms the presence of hydrocarbons in the same high-quality sandstone reservoirs as the Hides field,’ he told the PNG Petroleum and Energy Summit in Port Moresby.
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PNG is still an attractive investment opportunity in spite of global energy prices, says Kumul Petroleum Holdings Managing Director Wapu Sonk. He told a media conference that investors have already adjusted to the changing commodity prices. He said the fact that more than 450 investors attended the inaugural Petroleum and Energy Summit in Port Moresby shows investors have confidence in the oil and gas projects in the country (see: BAPNG interview).
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The extractives industry contributed 12.7 per cent of government revenue in 2014, compared with 7.5 per cent in 2013, according to the Papua New Guinea Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Report. The report said the value of total mineral exports for 2014 was K17.52 billion, representing 84.2 per cent of total export value. ‘The extractives industry contributed 12.7 per cent of government revenue in 2014, compared with 7.5 per cent in 2013,’ the report said.
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The NAC’s Richard Yopo
Transport operations at Port Moresby international airport will soon improve, according to the acting Managing Director of the National Airports Corp, Richard Yopo. The National reports that Yopo said the changes would include: improvements to parking, transport to and from the airport and taxi access to the terminal kerbsides. He added that about 1.5 million passengers passed through the airport last year. Passenger movements averaged 4000 a day.
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Rice producer Trukai Industries will install a hulling mill in Lae in April and May to process locally grown rice. CEO Greg Worthington-Eyre says Trukai is also setting up a 500-hectare rice plantation near Rangiampum, with the cooperation of the Chingwam Rice Growers Cooperative. This will be in addition to the 80-hectare site already producing rice for the cooperative under the management of Trukai’s rice development team.
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The President of the Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alan McLay, says the LCCI is concerned that the roads at Milfordhaven and Igam, which have been on the works program since 2015, will not be done this year. He says pot holes on the Lae to Nadzab Road are so bad they ‘are dangerous.’ He says the risk is not only to the structure of the vehicles. There is also a danger from collisions with other vehicles.
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The re-opening of the mega Stop ‘N’ Shop in Waigani Central, Port Moresby will be delayed by a further four to five months due to the current foreign exchange shortage, CPL Group Chairman, Mahesh Patel, has told Loop PNG.
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Kina Securities has announced a net profit of K41 million for the year to 31 December 2016, up from K4.9 million for the previous year. CEO Syd Yates said it had been a ‘milestone year’ for Kina. He listed as achievements: providing customers with access to all ATMs in PNG, and the company’s investment in new technology platforms which ‘will ensure greater superannuation customer access and service capabilities’.
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NASFUND’s Hulala Tokome.
The National Superannuation Fund (NASFUND) says the returns on its investments were quite pleasing in spite of the difficulties of the economy. Board chairman Hulala Tokome says NASFUND recorded an 87 per cent rise on the previous year, recording a net profit of K283.47 million in 2016.
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BIMA Insurance says it has paid out nearly K6 million worth of claims across its Family Life and Hausik products. BIMA says it has more than 300,000 customers registered on its life and hospital products.
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A petition with 10,000 signatures from landowners opposing the Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs) has been presented to the Lands Departments. Act Now! PNG campaign co-ordinator Eddie Tanago says that despite promises to cancel the leases, ‘not one single lease has been revoked yet logs worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been shipped overseas through illegal logging operations’.
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And finally, the Kiribati Government has rejected a request by Russian millionaire Anton Bakov to use Kiribati as a base to revive the Romanov Empire and create what he called an ‘alternative Russia’.
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