{"id":13906,"date":"2018-05-01T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/papua-lng-feed-announcement-expected-by-end-of-year-pngs-oneill-at-au-png-business-forum\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T19:17:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T09:17:59","slug":"papua-lng-feed-announcement-expected-by-end-of-year-pngs-oneill-at-au-png-business-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/papua-lng-feed-announcement-expected-by-end-of-year-pngs-oneill-at-au-png-business-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Papua LNG FEED Announcement Expected by End of Year: PNG’s O?Neill at AU-PNG Business Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tTotal’s FEED announcement could be delivered as soon as November (before the 2018 APEC Summit) according to Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O?Neill in his keynote speech at the PNG-Australia Business Forum.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis morning, Peopleconnexion PNG Director Kristine Berry and  Regional Manager ? PNG & Asia Pacific Fraser Hawkins attended the keynote speech held in Brisbane. <\/p>\n

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\n\tHere is our team’s five-minute rundown on major economic, investment and oil and gas announcements:<\/p>\n

\n\tPapua New Guinea’s current business environment<\/h2>\n

\n\tPapua New Guinea’s current economic climate is facing a short-term downturn in the wake of the recent earthquake that destroyed much of the country’s regional civil infrastructure and disrupted LNG production.<\/p>\n

\n\tPrime Minister O?Neill acknowledged the need to rebuild and provide relief efforts to those affected by the earthquake and manage the economic impact caused in Quarter 1 of this year:<\/p>\n

\n\t?We are resilient people.?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\t Papua New Guinea’s debt and S&P rating<\/h2>\n
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\n\tImage source: S&P<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tCurrently, the PNG Government is aiming to maintain debt levels at 30 ? 35% of GDP in order to service infrastructure and government initiatives aimed at promoting the country’s growth.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2017, Papua New Guinea’s deficit was much lower than predicted, at 31.9% of GDP.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe PM addressed concerns about perceptions of the country’s economy in light of Standard & Poor’s recent decision to lower its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on PNG:<\/p>\n

\n\t?At the global level, there are concerns. They are valid concerns, but we are a country that is used to debt to be able to build infrastructure.?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\tPapua New Guinea’s current deficit stands at 1.79 billion Kina (reduced from 3.09 billion Kina in 2016).<\/p>\n

\n\tPNG LNG & Papua LNG projects: FEED announcement expected by end of year<\/h2>\n
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\n\tAs expected, the PM commented on recent concerns raised by NGO Jubilee Australia in their recent report about the impact of PNG LNG on the country’s economy:<\/p>\n

\n\t?PNG and ExxonMobil have delivered our country’s first LNG project on time, within budget.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\tWe have demonstrated to the global community that we are capable of delivering projects of this size. In fact, $19 billion was raised during the global financial crisis. We are now one of the lowest LNG post-producers in the world.?<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to O?Neill, it is ?unrealistic to suggest the LNG project is not contributing to the economy of the country. ?<\/p>\n

\n\tMoving forward, the PNG Government is now eager to engage with the next wave of investors and focus on using lessons learned in 2009 to inform the progression of Total’s coveted Papua LNG project.<\/p>\n

\n\tPrime Minister O?Neill briefly discussed his meeting with Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Poyann? last week, revealing that Total has a positive outlook on the project and will be making FEED (Front End Engineering Design) announcements by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe PM expressed his determination to make the announcement before APEC this year, to open up conversations about investment at the Leader’s Summit in mid-November. So far, the PNG Government has been in discussions with the Japanese Government, who is likely to be a future customer, stating that Papua New Guinea will be Japan’s preferred supplier of gas.<\/p>\n

\n\tTourism hub in Kokopo<\/h2>\n
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\n\tIn the speech, Prime Minister O?Neill made it known that Papua New Guinea is looking to pave a new way forward:<\/p>\n

\n\t?One thing is very clear. We must broaden our economic base. We cannot continue to rely on the resources cycle to drive our growth.?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\tTo achieve this, the country aims to diversify its investment and focus on agriculture, tourism and SMEs to soften the blow of the boom-bust-boom cycle of extractive industries. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn the coming weeks, the PM will make announcements on incentives to empower and attract investment towards these sectors.<\/p>\n

\n\tA particular point of interest is the PNG Government’s plan to pilot a tourism investment program in Kokopo that would see the area become a regional tourism hub. This announcement and details of investment incentives are expected within the next few weeks following cabinet approval.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo deliver this initiative, the PNG Government will be looking to engage hotel chains and continue working closely with JICA to oversee the delivery of a four-lane highway into Kokopo. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe future of PNG:<\/h2>\n

\n\tThe PM briefly addressed the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Referendum, set to be carried out in 2019. Prime Minister O?Neill expressed the importance of a peaceful process, with a clear focus on what is good for the people of Bougainville.<\/p>\n

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\n\tFurther details on the referendum and its setup are expected to be discussed at the Business Forum tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n

\n\tAPEC Summit<\/h2>\n
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\n\tImage source: <\/em>Andy Hau<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAs the long-awaited APEC Leaders? Summit in Port Moresby creeps closer, Prime Minster O?Neill expressed his enthusiasm for the country’s ability to potentially access new markets in the region and attract foreign investment to Papua New Guinea: ?(APEC) will promote a big change in our country.?<\/p>\n

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\n\tOver the coming week, the Peopleconnexion PNG team will be releasing updates and insights from this year’s Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum. We look forward to discussing the incredible potential in PNG and meeting with business leaders to hear their thoughts on upcoming opportunities.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeopleconnexion PNG: Recruitment, Training, Payroll & HR Services<\/p>\n

\n\tYour future is our business.<\/p>\n

\n\twww.peopleconnexion.com\/png<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Total’s FEED announcement could be delivered as soon as November (before the 2018 APEC Summit) according to Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O?Neill in his keynote speech at the PNG-Australia Business Forum. This morning, Peopleconnexion PNG Director Kristine Berry and  Regional Manager ? PNG & Asia Pacific Fraser Hawkins attended the keynote speech …<\/p>\n

Papua LNG FEED Announcement Expected by End of Year: PNG’s O?Neill at AU-PNG Business Forum<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-13906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-png"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/13907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peopleconnexion.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}