Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has welcomed the passage of six significant legislation that guarantees the US$20 billion Papua LNG Project in the Gulf in months ahead.
In a press conference attended by Petroleum Minister Hon. Kerenga Kua and Gulf Governor Hon. Chris Haiveta, he said, “Today is good news for the country. The laws have finally been cleared and Papua LNG is set to move very soon when the (French oil-gas major) TOTAL executives come in and we jointly release a statement on what takes place from this stage onwards.”
These six bills are the following:
Income Tax (Papua LNG Project) (Amendment) Bill 2020
Stamp Duties (Papua LNG Project) (Amendment) Bill 2020
Insurance (Papua LNG Project) (Amendment) Bill 2020
Oil and Gas (Papua LNG Project Production Levy) (Amendment) Act 2020
Tax (Papua LNG Project) Production Levy) (Amendment) Act 2020
Income Tax (Papua LNG Project Thin Capitalisation) (Amendment) Act 2020
“At this juncture, let me also announce that a high-level delegation of TOTAL executives will be visiting the country in the next two weeks or so, if transition in Singapore gives clearance,” said Marape. “We will now start to engage and put a clear roadmap about Papua LNG going forward. Papua LNG is an important project for us. PNG LNG was able to grow our GDP and our economic base quite substantially.”
In 2007, the PNG economy was at K30-K40 billion but is now at K90 billion.
“Papua LNG is a US$20 billion project that has every opportunity to ensure that our economy is given the huge stimulus needed, during the construction phase as well as eventual production of the two trains that will be the Papua LNG,” he said.
PM Marape also added that he was a hard negotiator for all projects.
“That is not to say that we are disrespectful of our investors,” he said. “There’s a place for us to win, and there’s a place for investors to win, based on open-book modelling and based on returns to investment that is industry best-practice or global best-practice. So whilst I negotiate hard for the country, I also am a fair man, and I understand where investors will win and where the country must win in as far as winning for our people is concerned.”
Prime Minister Marape said that even if the government has secured these additional benefits, they have also maintained TOTAL, Exxon Mobil and Oil Search in the country.
