Firm, landowners seal deal for power supply

THE National Gas Corporation Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding with the principal landowners of the Wafi-Golpu project to supply electricity to the mine once it starts.
Company executive chairman Alfred Kaiabe said it would allow them to work together on the generation of gas-fired electricity.
“The National Gas Corporation is mandated under the Oil and Gas Act to be the downstream processing vehicle of the country,” he said.
“It is the only legislated entity to be the domestic gas operator and the domestic supplier to meet the demands.
“We are saying that through this mandate of the National Gas Corporation under Section 179 of the Oil and Gas Act, we will partner with the landowners to generate power to use gas as stockfeed to generate power to supply the mine.
“As to how we will translate that, where we will establish the generation plant, the flow of the transmission and the distribution lines and whether the mine will be the only retailer there will be others along the way is something we will spell out in a proper agreement in the course of time.”
Kaiabe said there were clauses to work with PNG Power Ltd as the state agency to translate the government’s electricity rollout programme.