Oil Search share price value drops by K8.5bil: Botten

By DALE LUMA
THERE has been a drop of more than US$2.5billion (K8.5bil) in Oil Search Ltd (OSL) share price value largely due to unpredictable activities in the Papua LNG Project, says OSL boss Peter Botten, pictured.
The company managing director said the uncertainty in the timing of the project caused a large value to be removed from OSL’s share prices over the last few months.
“There has been a decline in our share prices since May this year by over US$2.5 billion (K8.5bil) which is largely related to events in Papua New Guinea,” Botten said.
“Clearly, the last few months have tested the confidence of investors with financing, insurance cost rise and ongoing uncertainty about what’s happening in Papua New Guinea.
“Predictability and stability is key to investor confidence and without this, the business becomes harder. We are the largest investor in PNG and when the country wobbles, we will wobble as well.
“Off course, we fully recognise and respect that any government has the right to review agreements, however, the Papua joint venture believes that the agreement that was signed earlier on in the year provides the State with greater benefits, quite rightly, than the PNG LNG Project.
“As PNG’s largest investor, we are very sensitive of this uncertainty surrounding where the Papua LNG agreement is going and we are working extremely hard to work with our joint venture partners and the Government to resolve any outstanding issues in a timely way.”