The Government will be looking into options to use additional gas reserves for power generation in the country.
Minister for Planning and Acting Minister for State Enterprise and Public Investment, Charles Abel, says Cabinet is currently looking at options to access the additional gas reserves from the PNG LNG Project to supplement additional power generation in the country.
Abel said he did not see the rationale in exporting all our gas when it can also be used for our benefits.
“I just don’t see the logic in exporting all our gas. If there is options for us to access that gas, clean energy that belongs to us.
“I think we need to work as hard as we can to work with options to utilize that gas for power generation primarily and initially here in Port Moresby, but all the way up to the pipeline areas and the resource areas. Surely we can use some of our own gas to provide cheap and clean power to our own people,” Abel said.
He, however, believes the situation is getting better and the government will continue to work on the options until blackouts are a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, the two power generators purchased by the state are in use outside of Port Moresby in Kanudi, and in Lae.
Abel said the power generators were quite costly to operate as they ran on diesel.
“But the point is its also providing 25 mega watts of power when needed which was the intention. It was the intention, it was a quick measure to address the immediate issues of the blackouts,” he said.