Firm concerned over lack of forex

THE lack of foreign currency (forex) to import crude oil in a timely manner is a concern for Puma Energy PNG Ltd, says country manager and director Hulala Tokome.
He told The National that the company paid for its crude supplies when forex was available in the market.
Tokome said the availability of forex had affected the schedule of buying crude oil.
On oil prices, Tokome said based on Platts prices for February, there was a steady increase in prices.
Platts is a provider of energy and metal information and source of benchmark price assessments in the physical energy markets.
“Hence, we will have an increase in prices for March as the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) pricing structure is based on Mean of Platts (MOP) Singapore prices for the prior month,” Tokome said.
“There is a one month lag on pricing effect. “All eyes will be on the Opec (Organisation of petroleum exporting countries) meeting.
“Their decision to increase crude oil production or not will determine which direction prices will go.
“There is strong market optimism around global demand returning on the back of vaccine rollouts.”
He added that many countries had started to announce plans to phase out of lockdowns and warmer weather should help support demand.
“With this, prices should continue to trend upwards,” Tokome said.
Tokome noted that the current Brent prices are at US$64/bbl (K220.95/barrel of oil).