Duma praises ExxonMobil

By YEHIURA HRIEHWAZI
PETROLEUM and Energy Minister William Duma yesterday told Esso Highland’s mana­ging director Peter Graham that he was pleased to see that ExxonMobil was not driven by a short-term share price gain.
Opening the petroleum segment of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum’s seminar chaired by Graham, the minister said he was conscious of the chairman’s role as   manager of PNG’s first world-class LNG project.
“Now, in view of recent events, I took the liberty of checking your activities against the undertakings you made to the state and to the people of PNG some years ago.
“I was heartened to see that you are adhering to your commitments, both verbal and written, to the state and to our people.
“I suppose this reflects the maturity and scope of your business. I am pleased to see that you are not driven by a short term share price gain,” he said.
He said he could “wax lyrical” about the ExxonMobil-driven PNG LNG project and denounce others who “do not share your consortium’s ethics”, he told Graham, but to do so would be uninformative.
However, Duma stressed the importance of some basics upon which the state founded its support for the PNG LNG project.
“It is important that all participants in the industry recognise that is important to the state.”
Duma said ExxonMobil brought a degree of credibility to the table along with its partners.
“What ExxonMobil demonstrated to me as the responsible minister and to the government as a whole was that you wanted to develop a world-class project, both in terms of scope and quality.
“And this is important to a nation which is making its first
foray into the LNG sector,” Duma said.
“No nation, I would suggest, can hope to set its industry firmly and credibly in a global market if it does not ensure that the projects it embraces tell a strong, believable and consistent story. 
“And our story is that our nation has world-class projects and they are run by world-class operators.
“To do otherwise would be, in my humble view, fatal to the long- term prospects for national success. PNG LNG tells that story.
“I trust that the projects yet to come will tell the same story,” Duma said.