Hides PDL 1

This will be made possible after launch of Hides PDL 1 Clan Bank Account Opening, Awareness & Consultation at Juni camp Hides in Tari recently. The awareness ends on December 10.

Since March 2022, Mineral Resource Development Company (MRDC) and Gas Resources Hides 4 have paid 277 landowner clans in equity and royalty payments worth K19.6 million.

The beneficiaries of Hides Petroleum Development License 7 taking out their first equity and royalty payments, a total of K19.6 million were paid into the beneficiary clan bank accounts.

The negotiations, which began last Wednesday after the landowners locked the gates to some well pads and the Hides Gas Conditioning Plant, ended with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday between the state and landowners of PDL 1 and 7.

The MoU basically sets out a way forward for the government and the landowners to achieve their objectives within the next 30 days.

The 30-day period starts today. The employees of the Department of Petroleum and Energy will start the clan vetting process to identify landowners of these two PDL areas.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Nixon Duban announced this to frustrated landowners today during the signing of a MoU between the government and landowners of PDL 1 and PDL 7.

He said after consultation with the Prime Minister, he has agreed to pay them the money within 7 days.

With this, he called on landowners to reopen gates to well pads and the conditioning plant.

PDL 7 landowner representative, Andy Hamaga, and PDL 1 spokesman, Larry Andagali, gave their undertaking to open the gates today.

Some of the demands on the placards read "No Kandakasi team in Hides PDLs 1, 7 &9. ADR step down".

The main issues the landowners now seem to have is the payment of royalties.

In one of the placards, the landowners claim there is no landowner issue and they want their monies to be paid.

They also demand to know how much of their royalties are now being kept in trust accounts.

Talks have now started as landowner spokesman Andy Hamaga has taken to the podium to set the stage for talks to be held.

He said PDL 1 landowners will join as well because he claims the Government has taken six-and-a-half years, since the signing of the final LBBSA agreement (Dec 7, 2009), to kick-start the PNG LNG Project.

Andagali says the Government has turned a “blind eye” on its people through the slow clan vetting and landowner identification process.

He said the provincial government supported an NEC-approved “beneficiary group” to negotiate and manage the 4.27 percent Kroton equity, which does not represent the PDL1 landowners’ interest.