Shares from Kumul Petroleum going towards budget: Marape

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FIFTY per cent of the dividends received from Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (KPHL) will go towards supporting the country’s budget, says Prime Minister James Marape.
He said this in Port Moresby on Wednesday during the State-owned entity’s annual general meeting.
Marape said it followed a Cabinet decision on the breakup and distribution of dividends from the revenue collected by KPHL.
“There was a recent Cabinet decision we took and I would like the board to embrace that decision because that is where we intend to take Kumul Petroleum when we shape a sister company, Kumul Mining,” he said.
He said in the Cabinet decision, a breakup and of the distribution of dividends from the revenue collected by Kumul Petroleum was outlined.
Marape said the distributions were specifically addressed in the Cabinet paper and again urged the board to embrace that decision.
The breakup is as follows:

  • 50 per cent to Budget support;
  • 20 per cent to administrative cost (up by 5 per cent from current 15 per cent);
  • 13 per cent saved for call on cash when investment decisions are being made;
  • 7 per cent into the Sovereign Wealth Fund for the country; and,
  • 10 per cent towards assisting church-run education and health services throughout the country.

Marape was also presented a dividend of K100 million by the KPHL chairman Andrew Baing.
Marape thanked KPHL’s board, management and staff for working hard to bring the company to what it was today.
“So far so good, you have come in a short space in time, benefiting from the five years of consistent production of the two trains of gas,” he said.
“A revenue envelope of about K5 billion that equates to an average a K1 billion every year.”
He said that was the country’s benefits from the 16.77 per cent participation stake in the present two trains of LNG project and he appreciated the fact that KPHL as a beneficiary in the PNG LNG Project was contributing to the economy.
He also wanted Kumul Petroleum to detach from investments that could be done by landowner companies such as drilling and become an equity player in the oil and Gas industry.