The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum has welcomed comments by the Government to transform the Department of Petroleum and Energy into an authority.
President, Gerea Aopi, welcomed the comments by Petroleum and Energy Minister, Nixon Duban, that the transformation process is on the Government agenda.
Minister Duban was quoted in the media yesterday that a budgetary allocation of K2 million was invested for the transformation. However, the process could be concluded after the swearing in of the new government after the 2017 Elections.
President Aopi said the Chamber and Industry stands ready to collaborate with the Government to work through this initiative to bring to fruition.
He said PNG holds world class petroleum assets and what was required was an effectively functioning agency to manage the assets for the people of PNG.
“The Government has already set the pace with the establishment of the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) and we would like to follow that pathway for the Department responsible for our industry as well,” said Aopi.
During the 2015 PNG Mining and Petroleum Conference, Aopi urged the Government to establish the authority.
He said the authority would allow the industry to contribute more into policies governing the sector with regards to economic development.
Loop file photo