The international energy services company, Wood Group PSN, has won a contract with Esso Highlands to provide construction and maintenance to services to the Hides gas plant in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands and the new PNG LNG plant near Port Moresby.
Mining & Energy
The ratings agency Moody’s has cut Newcrest Mining Ltd’s credit rating, declaring its outlook as negative, after the gold miner announced a AUD$6 billion (K12.6 billion) in asset writedowns in June.
Oil Search has reported that while it has discovered only ‘modest’ quantities of natural gas during a new exploration campaign in the Gulf of Papua, it will continue drilling in the area.
Harmony Gold has become the latest gold miner to write-down its Papua New Guinea assets, as a sharp drops in bullion prices force mining companies globally to reassess the profitability of their mines.
Bougainville leaders are considering lifting the moratorium on mineral exploration which has been in place since the 1970s, in case the Panguna gold and copper mine does not re-open.
The President of Bougainville, John Momis, wants work on restarting the giant Panguna gold and copper mine later this year, and says the former leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, Sam Kuona, now supports re-opening the mine. In this exclusive interview with Business Advantage PNG, he outlines the steps now needed to restart operations.
Last month, Papua New Guinea’s fledgling National Petroleum Company signed its first deal, and it was a big one: a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia’s massive national oil company, Pertamina. NPCP Chairman Frank Kramer explains how the relationship will work.
Following recent announcements that it will aim to reduce operating costs at its Papua New Guinea sites, Newcrest Mining Ltd will cut at least 150 jobs from its workforce at the Lihir gold mine.
The newly-appointed head of the Bougainville landowners group is cautiously optimistic that work to re-open the giant Panguna copper and gold mine could begin within two years.
Newcrest Mining has revealed it is aiming to ‘simplify’ operations at the Lihir and Hidden Valley gold mines in Papua New Guinea, after writing down the value of its mines in PNG, Australia and Africa by AUD$6 billion (K12.6 billion).