Gas projects wrapped in new rules

ALL new gas projects will be negotiated under the terms of the National Gas Policy recently approved by the National Executive Council, says Petroleum Minister Dr Fabian Pok.
It is intended to set in place specific policies in this industry to maximise benefits to the country.
“The developments in the gas portfolio have created more challenges to the Government on how to manage the fast-growing gas developments” Pok said.
“The challenges include policy, and legal and institutional frameworks.
“Others include the development of natural gas infrastructure, formulation of relevant policies on domestic market obligation and managing export market, local content, third-party access regime for the gas pipeline, gas revenue management and health, safety and environment protection.”
The implementation of these policies will align with the PNG National Development Strategy 2030 and the PNG Vision 2050 and other sectoral and cross-sectoral policies.
Pok said it was important to have a framework to guide the development and growth of this industry.
The NEC decision has been gazetted, directing the Department of Petroleum to meet with relevant stakeholders to finalise the policies which have been discussed for some time.
The NEC decision has directed that the process of developing the domestic market obligation (DMO), third-party access (TPA) and local content (LoC) start immediately.
“This is a critical Government policy initiative,” Pok said.
“We recognise that beyond the economic rent, there are broader strategic benefits to the economy that will be attained from the domestic utilisation and value adding to natural gas.”
He reiterated the Government’s position that all new gas projects, including P’nyang, will be negotiated under the terms provided for in the new policy.