hello bearcatbob, recent price drop is due to uncertainty of politics in this third world . Expect downward pressure to come. Last week was 5.00+ attachec copy from Australia news
BHP evacuates staff
and shuts shop in capital
By Finola Burke
Australia's biggest company, BHP, yesterday revealed it
had evacuated about 15 expatriate employees from
Papua New Guinea and closed operations in Port
Moresby in response to rioting and the continued threat of a military coup.
Other PNG-related companies said yesterday they were
on alert and some had confined employees to their homes
but there were no moves to evacuate expatriate staff.
BHP's chief executive, Mr John Prescott, said yesterday
the company had evacuated from 10 to 15 employees
and their dependants on Thursday and Friday and closed
its Port Moresby steel-processing centre. The plant is
close to the military's Murray Barracks and to the scene
of last week's rioting and looting. "Our operations at the
moment are shut down in Port Moresby -- and Ok
Tedi's normal," Mr Prescott told Nine Network's
Business Sunday program.
Oil Search Ltd's managing director, Mr Peter Botten,
told The Australian Financial Review yesterday his
company and Chevron Niugini had closely co-ordinated
their approach and both had decided to operate on
skeleton numbers in Port Moresby.
"Non-essential travel around the country has been
halted," Mr Botten said. "We're basically operating on a
skeleton staff in Port Moresby -- we have two to three
people at any given time in the office during the week."
Chevron, as operator of the giant Kutubu oil project, has
one of the largest offices of any foreign-owned company
in PNG and it, too, is understood to be on skeleton staff.
One of the largest contractors in the region, Barclay
Mowlem, said two major projects -- Lihir gold mine and
Gobe oil field -- could face difficulties. Senior executive
Mr Brian de Luca said the construction group "can't
sustain our operations much longer on the island and in
the highlands without having our Port Moresby office
operating properly".
But two other PNG-related companies Placer Niugini
Ltd and Highlands Pacific Ltd said it was business as
usual in their offices.
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