The country’s economy is looking good with Papua LNG in Gulf to announce its Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) next week and negotiations on Wafi-Golpu Mine in Morobe nearing competition.
Prime Minister James Marape made this announcement on Sunday, Feb 19, 2023 and said FEED is the process for conceptual development of projects in processing such as Papua LNG.
“The two major resource projects of Papua LNG and Wafi-Golpu have not been progressed substantially for more than 20 years with their known resources, but we are now making big strides to get the projects developed,” he said.
“After the FEED stage is Final Investment Decision (FID). The project developer, TOTAL, has given its full assurance that the project is moving on time and on plan. This is very good news for the country.”
The Prime Minister said an issue with Papua LNG joint-venture partners with PNG LNG partners had been resolved thanks to TOTAL Energy’s leadership - which paved the way for FEED and FID.
He said the good news for PNG was that P’nyang LNG in Western would be developed immediately after Papua LNG – “which means that the country will have eight years of LNG construction involving Papua LNG and P’nyang”.
“I assure both Gulf and Western provincial governments, and landowners, that we will be having consultations with them in the second half of this year.”
As regards to Wafi-Golpu, the Prime Minister said negotiations between the developers and the State Negotiating Team (SNT) were drawing to a close, with a financial agreement and technical aspects of the project to be completed.
“Both joint-venture partners, Harmony and Newcrest, and our SNT, are continuing with their negotiations,” he said.
“Our country must be reminded that once you sign into such long-term agreements, it’s in place for the next 40 years, as in the case of Wafi-Golpu.
“We don’t want to rush headlong into signing an agreement that we will regret later on, such as we have come to regret in Porgera, Ok Tedi, Lihir and Bougainville.
“People may be complaining that our Government is slow, however, we are looking thoroughly through all the fine print so that we maximise revenue for landowners, Morobe Provincial Government and the State.
“I appreciate the patience of both Harmony and Newcrest, and we’re drawing to a close now, with the Financial Framework Agreement to be completed. Once that is done, a mining development contract will be issued, which should be in the first half of this year.”