Chamber of Mines and Petroleum

The Government tabled, debated, and overwhelmingly passed the Oil and Gas, Papua LNG Project Amendment Bill, 2021 79 votes to 0.

 The Chamber expressed its support of this and said the country urgently needs to get projects moving to provide economic support to the national economy.

Chamber President, Anthony Smare said the Government’s passage of these important legislative changes illustrates the sincere commitment from the government of the need to get the Papua LNG Project off the ground.

The chamber said this when acknowledging the passing of Oil and Gas (Amendment) Bill 2020, saying it understands the desire of the PNG Government to maximise its position in resource projects. 

“However, in failing to consult, the consequences of some of these amendments will not be to the benefit of PNG but will inadvertently set back the nation’s economy for many years to come by dis-incentivising investors or making otherwise economic projects uneconomic. 

“The Chamber last engaged with government in January this year, with our Prime Minister and respective ministers of Mining and Petroleum, and a commitment was made for effective consultation,” it said in a statement.

“The Chamber is studying the bills to analyse their impact on the resource sector, and on Papua New Guinea as an investment destination, and will make its views known shortly.”

The figures released by the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) on Monday saw the Fatality Frequency Rate (FFR) reported as zero, confirming there were no loss of lives at any of the regulated mining projects in Papua New Guinea last year.

The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum acknowledged the diligence of the MRA and further congratulated mining projects for their commitment to the safety of their employees.