Oil and Gas

Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited Managing Director, Wapu Sonk, says there is ongoing discussions between these countries on ways to enter the energy market in PNG.

He said PNG is one of the few remaining countries in the world which has an energy resource base that is yet to be fully explored.

Speaking at the Oxford Business Roundtable early last week, Sonk said with the APEC year upon us, significant interest has been shown by these countries.

From the discovery, only 15 per cent has been produced while 25 per cent is yet to be commercialized.

PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum President, Gerea Aopi, said according to Oil Search Limited, 60 per cent of PNG’s oil and gas potential is undiscovered.

However, more exploration was needed to discover potential oil and gas reserves and required heavy investment.

It is believed more oil and gas projects are expected to come on stream within the next five to 10 years which has the potential to increase PNG’s production of oil and gas.

Government says this policy will have a positive impact in the country by increasing oil and gas supplies within country at low cost.

Work on the policy began in 2016 and will continue to 2017.

Meanwhile, the Government initiated work on the Template Gas Agreement is expected to be completed next year for government consideration and endorsement.

Kumul Petroleum Holdings on behalf of the National Government has entered into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with South Pacific Employment Institute (SPEI) to run the world-class state-of-the-art training facility at Idubada near Port Moresby.

The training institute will be called Kumul Petroleum Academy and will be the first in the Pacific Islands region.

Higher Education Minister Malakai Tabar said the Live Plant Training Facility (LPTF) will become the premier training hub for the PNG energy and resources sector workers.