Negotiation protocols on gas resources established, PM says

PRIME Minister James Marape says protocols have been established for P’nyang gas resource in Western and other resource projects coming up for review.
He said in a statement the legal state negotiation team was in active engagement to ensure the project “is processed consistent with legal requirements of our country”.
“Gone are the days when industry ran straight to prime ministers or ministers,” he said. “I am tidying the way we have been doing project negotiations to allow our officials to vet, filter and funnel all projects on their own merits to the petroleum minister and national executive council on their own qualifying merits, rather than the PM’s or ministers’ influence.
“Our country’s laws should govern these processes.”
Meanwhile, negotiations for the P’nyang gas project began yesterday between developer ExxonMobil PNG Ltd and the State, according to Petroleum and Energy Minister Kerenga Kua.
“I ask each one of us to rally behind our very own state negotiating team,” Kua said.
“The term sheet has been seen and approved by me, the P’nyang ministerial committee, and finally the prime minister, in that order. All of us are satisfied that the content and procedure we are adopting are all in accord with our laws.
The (negotiating team) is not acting alone.”
Kua said to erase any doubt, there was a difference between the granting of a license, and negotiating a contract, (like the proposed P’nyang agreement now being negotiated).
“For a licence, the terms and conditions are locked in by the enabling law,” Kua said. “In contract, the relevant terms and conditions are not limited unless it is against a specific law or is of a criminal nature, or otherwise, it can include anything the parties agree to.
“Because this is a proposed contractual agreement, one can ask for whatever one feels is economically justifiable to the nation. The other side can reject it at the negotiation if it disagrees.”