Prime Minister James Marape has announced that a Ministerial Gas Committee (MGC) will deliberate on the positions of both the State Negotiation Team and ExxonMobil to decide the best outcome for PNG on the Pnyang Project.
Prime Minister Marape announced this in a statement after negotiations between the SNT and ExxonMobil failed to reach an Agreement on the P'nyang LNG Project.
The Prime Minister stated his displeasure over ExxonMobil failing to migrate towards a mid-point which the State takes home a better deal, instead of terms similar to concession-based gas agreements PNG.
He said he is satisfied that the SNT has subscribed to the mandate bestowed upon Petroleum Minister, Kerenga Kua, and ExxonMobil has been told what their intentions are.
Marape said in the interests of fairness, a Ministerial Gas Committee (MGC) will request both the SNT and ExxonMobil to present their positions for the State to decide what is the best outcome for PNG.”
After the SNT and ExxonMobil present to the MGC, Cabinet will decide on P’nyang.
Marape said the fundamental policy principles that influenced his Government’s mindset would not change.
These include no fiscal concessions in P’nyang, treating P’nyang as separate from both PNG and Papua LNG projects, increase in Domestic Market Obligations (DMOs) and local content participation.
Meanwhile, Marape is calling on ExxonMobil and Oil Search not to hold the Total project in Gulf to ransom.
“If you model the project to be uneconomical, then don’t push it: let’s leave the gas in my land and you develop Papua plus further work in PNG LNG,” said Marape.