STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER HON. JAMES MARAPE ON THE OCCASION OF THE FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PAPUA LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) FRONT END ENGINEERING DESIGN PHASE
APEC HOUSE, ERA KONE | MONDAY 06th MARCH 2023
TotalEnergies Senior Vice-President Asia Pacific Exploration & Production Julien Pouget
Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Kerenga Kua
Governors of Project Host provinces, Governor Hon. Rufina Peter and Governor Hon. Chris Haiveta
Ministers and Members of Parliament
Chief Executive Officer – ExxonMobil, Mr Peter Larden,
Chief Executive Officer – Santos, Mr Brett Darley
Resident Ambassador of the French Republic, Mr. Guillame Lemoine
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
A pleasant evening to you all. Today is an important milestone in the Papua LNG project.
Let me begin by thanking TotalEnergies and all our joint venture partners for your blessings for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) to be completed.
My Government has given its One Hundred Percent support to this project. We look forward to deploying full support in all areas to ensure the project is progressed to Final Investment Decision (FID), Construction, and First Gas as scheduled for late 2027.
Papua New Guinea is not a new LNG country. We have gained from the experiences of PNG LNG on how to deal with landowners, and local and provincial governments.
Our Government gives its full commitment to expediate the process for Papua LNG. Part of this commitment involves our promptness in completing social mapping, conducting landowner studies, and expanding opportunities for local businesses to grow.
I have also asked TotalEnergies to assist by looking outside at the creation of a petrochemical business to bring to fruition current efforts to secure our domestic energy market.
Learning from the lessons of PNG LNG project, we want to do better.
I ask our project development partners to come on board with an open mind to advance the benefits to the country as we go into construction phase for this project.
I commend TotalEnergies for taking extraordinary leadership especially during certain challenges with our PNG LNG partners. Thank you for the pathway of a 2 percent equity from Papua LNG TotalEnergies has given to JX Nippon. As a responsible corporate citizen, TotalEnergies has made this decision for the interest of the project to move forward.
The construction phase of PNG LNG cost $19 billion. That is how much money that had been injected into the economy of the country.
We look forward to a similar thing with Papua LNG – a big impact on our economy. We expect FID at the end of this year or early next year. Then Construction begins immediately after that.
Our records have shown GDP increasing from K31.5 billion in 2008 to K47.7 billion in 2013 from PNG LNG project. We expect a similar growth from Papua LNG from next year 2024 onwards.
The FEED and construction phase are important as it will increase employment opportunities and upskill our local employees, raise revenue streams and Foreign Exchange to support our economy
I am also pleased that ExxonMobil has agreed to continue construction of P’nyang LNG at the back of Papua LNG. Within this year, consultations will begin with the Gulf Provincial Government and landowners to complete the groundwork of clan vetting, landowner identification, and development forum. We will conduct these while waiting on project development partners to complete FID.
In a related matter, I have returned yesterday from Gabon where I attended the ‘One Forest Summit’. It was a series of discussions on forest conservation and the sustainable use of our forests, and managing the effects of climate change. I used the opportunity to meet with executives of TotalEnergies. TotalEnergies has a good program going with the Gabonese Government on tree-planting and forest conservation.
I would like to appeal to our LNG partners to assist offset their carbon footprint locally, and once more commend TotalEnergies for its understanding thus far, while encouraging it to begin a similar program in our country, particularly in Gulf Province. We want Papua LNG to be carbon-neutral so PNG can continue being identified as a ‘green country’.
In conclusion, I understand that today I am also launching the Official Logo for the Papua LNG Project. For this, let me draw our attention now to the area of the project. The pipeline from Kikori in Gulf Province to Caution Bay in Central Province has traditional significance in that the Hiri Trade had also utilized this route where Papuans traded clay-pots for sago with Gulf people in the 1800s until just before our Independence.
Today, this supply chain remains significant as it continues to boost not just the Gulf and Central provincial economies but also, and more importantly, that of the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I now take this opportunity to formally announce the FEED Phase of the Papua LNG project and launch the project official logo.
Congratulations to all!
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