Hon James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, received an interim dividend payment of K100 million from Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL) in Parliament, which was delivered by the Board Chairman Prof Benedict Yaru and the Managing Director of KPHL, Wapu Sonk. When the Prime Minister received the dividend check, he congratulated Kumul Petroleum's Board of Directors and Management for paying such a significant dividend in such a timely manner. The Prime Minister further stated that he expects the Company to pay an additional K200 million to satisfy the entire dividend of K300 million as stipulated in the National Budget for 2021. He said, “My Government has come to recognise that active commercial participation and having a higher Equity interest by Kumul Petroleum as the National Oil Company (NOC) of Papua New Guinea is critical because it captures a significant portion of the lion’s share of the oil and gas proceeds for the country, which otherwise would normally go to the foreign commercial investors while the State waits to collect taxes and royalties which usually are further squeezed by concessions. Equity is King in any Project whether it be Mining or Petroleum or any other type of Projects, hence our push to have a higher stake in all new Projects, Porgera Gold Mine, Ok Tedi etc. “  The Prime Minister said, “Take back PNG is not a slogan without consequence; it is in fact a call to the people of this country to take control of the agenda for the economic betterment of this our country. Taking our nation back requires PNG to have control over its oil and gas sector from exploration through to production and development. This cannot be achieved under the current regime and without a fully empowered National Oil Company (NOC). That’s why my Government is committed to bringing about positive changes to the regime in the form of production sharing in line with international practice which the major oil and gas companies are already used to. This will be the game-changer we have been waiting for.”  To the company’s performance, the Prime Minister said, “Despite the setbacks caused by poor decisions by the past government with the UBS Loan which cost Kumul Petroleum and thus the country about AUD 362 Million (almost a billion Kina) in direct losses, the Prime Minister commended Kumul Petroleum for maintaining a high standard of corporate governance with “unqualified audit reports” for every year since the active operation in 2014. He said the company has every attribute to become like Petronas of Malaysia and make huge contributions to the country if it were left to operate independently like any other commercial entity and without undue interference by the government, which is also how Petronas operates”.  “I am pleased to know that after 696 LNG cargos by end of 2020, and from net proceeds of USD1.644 billion received in 2014 to end of 2020, approximately USD$1.119 billion has been passed onto the State; meaning KPHL has paid to the State the equivalent of 68% of the total distributions received from the PNG LNG Project”.   These remittances to the State are composed of USD$521,900,300 in direct dividends, USD$394,000,000 in return of capital payments (payments to State under Vendor Finance arrangement for Kroton Equity Option), USD$181,000,000 in various forms of taxes to IRC, and USD$23,000,000 on corporate social responsibility projects such as rural electrification projects in the country and the refurbishment and installation of new equipment The Prime Minister further said “We also must not forget that Kumul Petroleum not only preserved the rights of the landowners and provincial governments to the Kroton Equity Option and provide the necessary vendor financing for those options, but Kumul Petroleum also had to accept a reduction of about US$600 Million in the offer price from US$1.0128 Billion, which was a significant dent to its balance sheet. So in fact, KPHL gifted US$600 Million to the landowners and provincial governments of the PNG LNG Project”. The remaining revenues of KPHL have been re-invested in existing oil and gas fields it has cash call obligations to and other related facilities, a state-of-the-art live training facility for the Kumul Petroleum Academy, and retained for looming projects such as Papua LNG and Pasca  Gas Project and related exploratory and studies.   Reference: PNG Facts (19 August 2021). “PNG Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited Pays an Interim Dividend of K100 million to state”.

Photo Credit: Kumul Petroleum - Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Kerenga Kua MP, officially announced the award of a fourth Petroleum Retention Licence (PRL) the Pandora License to the Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum, Mr Wapu Sonk on Friday, 03 September 2021. Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (Kumul Petroleum) welcomes the government’s decision to award a fourth Petroleum Retention License (PRL) to the national oil and gas company (NOC). This decision comes less than five months after the awarding of three licences. The Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Kerenga Kua, in officially announcing the award, described the occasion as momentous for Kumul Petroleum as Papua New Guinea’s NOC. “In April of this year, I announced the Marape-Basil Government’s support of the decision of the Petroleum Advisory Board (PAB) to grant PRL 48, PRL 49 and PRL 50 covering the Kimu, Barikewa and Uramu gas fields to Kumul Petroleum. Today’s announcement brings the total amount of PRLs awarded to Kumul Petroleum to four”. Minister Kua said the award empowers Papua New Guinea’s own NOC to take a “significant step forward in its mandate” and thereby also fulfils the Marape-Basil Government’s greater vision of ‘Take Back PNG’. He said he as Minister for Petroleum is pleased that our own NOC has technically and financially prepared itself to take on some of the licenses as their terms expire, and also be able to support the Papua LNG, Pasca and other developments like P'nyang when they happen. He expressed confidence in the technical capabilities of the nationals employed by KPHL and urged the NOC to swiftly progress development plans to commercialise these fields and proceed to developing them as soon as possible”. Upon receiving the award of the Pandora License, the Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum, Mr Wapu Sonk thanked the PAB and the Minister for Petroleum for having confidence in the NOC’s capabilities and for recognising the NOC as an important partner in the Government’s ‘Take Back PNG’ vision.  The Pandora license is the fourth PRL that Kumul Petroleum has secured this year, and presents for the NOC the opportunity to put to test aggregation and development concepts which the company has been developing. He said Kumul Petroleum will now be able consolidate these asset and move toward commercialising fields which were previously held by different owners and were otherwise considered stranded, isolated and economically challenging. Kumul Petroleum’s commercialisation plans will include further to drilling of delineation and development wells and project capital investments. Hence to mitigate Kumul Petroleum’s associated risk exposures, the company will look to invite joint venture partners and technical service providers with the requisite technical and financial capabilities who will assume critical roles in the development of these gas fields. Mr Sonk stated that “Kumul Petroleum will commit itself to work with the Department of Petroleum in carrying out the licence conditions. We will also look at the best way possible to commercialise this licence so that it benefits our people who have entrusted us to hold this licence”.   Article Courtesy of Kumul Petroleum

Every year, hundreds of Papua New Guinean’s will require life-saving heart procedures as lifestyle related disease and coronary heart disease is among the top ten common cause of admission at the Port Moresby General Hospital. Today, Papua New Guinea’s largest referral hospital, Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) officially opens a fully equipped 30 beds cardiac ward with 6 self-contained private rooms that will provide Papua New Guineans specialised medical treatment that was once unavailable in-country given the lack of clinical specialists, equipment, drugs and consumables. With the support from the Government of Papua New Guinea and Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (Kumul Petroleum) through a tri-partite agreement between the National Department of Health (NDOH), PMGH and Kumul Petroleum, who as Papua New Guinea’s national oil and gas company allocated K50 million to improve cardiac services within the country; this will be a thing of the past as Papua New Guineans receive life-saving heart procedures such as stenting and angiograms at the Kumul Petroleum National Heart Centre. Dr Paki Molumi, Chief Executive Officer of Port Moresby General Hospital said at the official opening that in recognition of the enormous contribution which makes a direct impact of the lives of Papua New Guineans, the Board of PMGH named the cardiac center the “ Kumul Petroleum National Heart Centre” . Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum Wapu Sonk said that Papua New Guinea’s national oil and gas company was honoured by the recognition of the Board of PMGH and said Kumul Petroleum is very proud to be associating itself with Papua New Guinea’s largest referral hospital in the area of Cardiac Surgery and specialist care that our country has been lacking for a long time. “When we signed the MOA in 2020, and thereafter I iterated that the Board of Kumul Petroleum is very committed to see the spending of the K50 million funding support that we committed, on the right equipment in developing the right skills, and in making sure, the services delivered at the right price to our people. “I am pleased to note from what Dr Molumi has said that this vision has become a reality. Through this partnership with PMGH and NDOH, Papua New Guineans will no longer spend on average up to K200, 000.00-K250, 000.00 to receive the lifesaving cardiac catheterization and stenting procedures they needed to travel overseas for specialist medical care. Since, the first stenting procedure, witnessed by Kumul Petroleum Trustee, Prime Minister Hon. James Marape on 22 July 2021, Papua New Guineans have received this procedure for free then subsequently at a fraction of the cost as of 28 January this year, saving citizens on average 95-96 percent of what will have been spent if they travelled overseas. Today, an angiogram alone and stenting services combined may cost a maximum of K2, 500.00 - K10, 000.00.” “Today’s official opening goes to prove that with joint cooperation with national companies and government partnership is the way forward to realise tangible benefits for our people. Today, celebrates a major policy achievement not only for us as a company, or Port Moresby General Hospital; but for us as a nation following 47 years of Independence where a national facility is funded by our people with returns from investments of our natural resources, equipped, and led by our national staff and doctors.” Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS Hon. Jelta Wong acknowledged the positive results of the partnership by the National Department of Health, PMGH and Kumul Petroleum; praising all parties to the MOA for the achievements thus far, and the opening of the Kumul Petroleum National Heart Centre. Dr Molumi added that further improvements under the cardiac program supported by Kumul Petroleum, are the cardiac outpatient or non-invasive cardiac outpatient which is completed and fully equipped with some of the latest and quality cardiac equipment. They include, Electro cardiogram machines, Echo machines and treadmill machines for stress test ready to be used after this opening. Under the arrangement Kumul Petroleum pays for the equipment which is chosen by the end-users. This has allowed for the purchase of quality branded medical equipment which is available in any modern hospital.    Plans are under way to build an operation theatre complex which will have a specialized cardiac theatre. The cardiac operation theatre once built will complete the cardiac program from Diagnostic Services at the non-invasive cardiac outpatient, Invasive Cardiac Services at the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and coronary care unit and admissions to the cardiac ward. This means PMGH will be able provide the full cardiac services from Diagnostic to Cardiac Catheterization and cardiac surgery. That will be replicated to the rest of the country. The Kumul Petroleum National Heart Centre was officially opened by Her Royal Highness, Princess Royal while on a tour of Papua New Guinea on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II on her Platinum Jubilee.   Article courtesy of Kumul Petroleum