Papua LNG landowners want the gas agreement reviewed

The Papua LNG Project to be developed in the Gulf Province still has issues to be ironed out.

The state may have signed the agreement with developer Total SA PNG and its minor partners Oil Search and Exxon Mobil but the landowners appear to be still aggrieved about the content of the agreement.

One of the vocal groups is the Purari Development Association, the umbrella association representing eight tribes from the Baimuru local level government- the area which hosts the Elk and Antelope gas fields.

The landowners issued a statement yesterday in a press conference calling on Prime Minister James Marape to “defer the Papua LNG project indefinitely until such time all proposed changes to resource laws in Papua New Guinea are done and that Papua LNG Project can be the first LNG project that will be negotiated and signed after these long outstanding reforms are enacted and passed into law.”

“As landowners we know this agreement does not serve our interests and must be reviewed and renegotiated.”

In making this statement through General Secretary Roy Daniel Evara, they however congratulated the Prime Minister for his election last Thursday.

“The executives of PDA and the people of Baimuru Sub-District in particular celebrate his ascension to the office of the Prime Minister because we have read, heard and seen him speak publicly about issues relating to the recently signed suppressive and controversial Papua LNG gas agreement that we have been and will vigorously fight against.”

“We are very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s vision to make Papua New Guinea the “richest black Christian nation” in the world by reviewing the outdated resource laws that will be tailored to drive this agenda.”

“As end users directly impacted by such laws, we welcome the Prime Minister’s call to work with likeminded citizens to gauge our views on how we can revolutionise and transform PNG into the future,” Evara stated on behalf of the association.

Evara said they were firm that the Papua LNG gas agreement must be reviewed because it was rushed and poorly negotiated.

Further they claim it was signed without conforming to several very critical pre-conditions under Oil and Gas Act 1998 and the land and resource owners were not consulted. They described the agreement as dictatorial in that it specifically directs Ministers of State and Parliament to change laws where required to suit the terms and conditions of the agreement which favours foreign developers.