‘Landowner firms below standards’

NONE of the existing landowners companies or any company in Hela, Southern Highlands province, and Papua New Guinea meet the international standard of petroleum giant ExxonMobil, to bid for construction work in the coming PNG LNG project.
Therefore, developer ExxonMobil has to look abroad for reputable firms for the constructions in order to meet the timeline and deliver the project, according to ExxonMobil sources.
In an email circulated, a company spokesman, who requested anonymity said ExxonMobil did an independent evaluation on all existing landowner companies and other national companies operating in the country.
“None of these companies meet all the requirements and standards set by ExxonMobil.
“They have their own operations integrity standards that are used to evaluate all companies and we discovered that most of the existing landowner companies are either ‘paper companies’ or below the standard required by the developer to deliver this massive LNG project,” the source said.
The source said ExxonMobil was one of the biggest companies in the world and set very high standards.
The source said most of the landowner companies that were mushrooming up so suddenly did not qualify to pick up a contract.
But the company has plans in the National Content plan to improve and establish sustainable standards in existing and new landowner companies.
“The company is committed to do that.
“It is true that small contracts will be given to landowner companies at this stage because of the ratings given.
“We must not forget that this is the biggest project ever undertaken in the country and under these circumstances, we will have the biggest impact by infrastructure in our society and in the country as a whole to be delivered by world class contractors.”