Oil and Gas Act

The LOBID exercise, which was formerly known as clan vetting, is an important prerequisite, for a Ministerial Determination under s.169A of the Oil and Gas Act.

Minister Pok said; “The main objective of the LOBID exercise is to conduct a review with the potential beneficiaries in Hides and across the PNG LNG Project footprint, all the information on Project Area Landowners that have been collected, collated and finalised. This needs to be done so that Ministerial Determination is fulfilled, before any release of legislated cash benefits.” 

Acting Secretary for the Department of Petroleum and Energy, Kepsie Puiye, tells Loop PNG that process is ongoing and amendments could be made to sections of the act, such as the benefit streams.

He said current potential off-shore gas projects such as ‘Pasca’, which lies within the periphery of the Gulf Province boundary, would see a change in how benefits are shared between the Province and the state.

However, he said this did not to mean that landowners were not receiving any benefits at all. He said landowners of certain fields of the project were receiving their benefits since 2014

“The Brown Field areas, Gobe and Kutubu and these places already have a mechanism in place so they are receiving it.”

“Lets not be misled by saying that LNG Benefits have not been received,” he said.

Sonk made the remarks after being questioned by the media that the Oil and Gas Act may be outdated and if there needed to be a review.