Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited is in the process of carrying out the terms of the agreement negotiated between the Landowners, Project Provincial Governments and the National Government in Kokopo in 2009.
The option to acquire shares in Kumul Petroleum (Kroton) Limited is part of a range of benefits agreed to by the Government and set out in the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement or UBSA for the benefits of the landowners and Provincial Governments along the footprint of the PNGLNG project.
Under the UBSA the State granted to these beneficiaries a commercial option to buy a 25.75% of the shares in Kroton No2 Limited, the special purpose company that held the States 16.75% interest in the PNG LNG Project.
“We are not in a position to agree to any variations of the terms of the UBSA, that is between the parties who agreed the terms of the UBSA in 2009, our role is to implement the agreement that was reached in the terms expressed in the UBSA and, provide additional benefits for the Landowners and relevant Provincial Governments if they elect to invest in Kroton,” Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited Wapu Sonk said.
Sonk said that while it was not within the powers of the company to vary any of the terms.
He also emphasised that Kumul Petroleum’s role is to implement what the UBSA provides in relation to the Kroton Option.
Sonk added that it is important to understand that under the UBSA there was an option granted to the named Beneficiaries to purchase, at a price agreed between the State and the Beneficiaries, a shareholding in Kroton.
“It is up to each Beneficiary Group to decide whether they wish to exercise their option or not.”
Sonk said that the Kumul Petroleum will now be engaging with those Beneficiaries who wish to exercise their Options.
“The Company will be calling meetings for interested Beneficiary Groups and we hope to start to see their Kroton Options being exercised,” he said.