Papua New Guinea: Comalco's refinery is decisive of the big gas pipeline project
Australia offers A$100 mln for Comalco refinery
BRISBANE, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday the government would provide more than A$100 million in financial support to enable Comalco Ltd's proposed $A3 billion alumina refinery to be built in Australia.
''It is an investment with undoubted significant long-term benefit to Australia,'' Howard said when making the announcement at a business lunch in Brisbane.
Comalco has yet to announce the site for the alumina refinery but has shortlisted its preferred sites as either Gladstone in Queensland or Sarawak in Malaysia.
Howard said excellent progress had been made in discussions with Comalco on building the refinery in Gladstone.
Howard said the project would involve three stages of construction, the first of which would occur from 1999-2001 and directly employ 1,300 people.
Comalco managing director Terry Palmer said last month a key component in selecting Queensland for the refinery would be the availability of natural gas from neighbouring Papua New Guinea via a 2,600 km pipeline.
A Chevron-led group has proposed building the pipeline to deliver gas from the Hides field in Papua New Guinea to Gladstone.
''The issue of commercial negotiations between Comalco and potential energy suppliers to the project remains to be settled before support commitments can be finalised,'' Howard said. ''The government has done all it possibly can to ensure this investment is made in Australia and urges the various parties to finalise energy supply negotiations in order to bring this major project to reality quickly,'' he said.
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The National, January 29
Howard vows A$100m aid for Comalco project
BRISBANE: Prime Minister John Howard yesterday pledged more than A$100 million (K135 million) in federal government support to enable Comalco Ltd's proposed A$3 billion Queensland alumina refinery project to proceed.
He said excellent progress had been made between the government's special projects co-ordinator, Bob Mansfield, and Comalco in order to encourage the company to finalise a decision to build its gas-fired refinery in Gladstone, on the central Queensland coast.
"It is an investment with undoubted significant long term benefits to Australia," Mr Howard said in his federation address to the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
"And because of that, the Commonwealth Government is prepared to provide financial support exceeding A$100 million to enable the project to proceed."
He said the refinery would involve an investment of A$3 billion in today's prices over three stages of construction.
"The first stage would occur from 1999-2001 and involve an investment of A$1.4 billion and result in direct employment of 1,300 people," Mr Howard said.
But before the funding support can be finalised, Comalco must settle commercial negotiations with Chevron Asiatic Ltd, project managers of the proposed A$3 billion Papua New Guinea to Queensland gas pipeline.
"The government has done all it possibly can to ensure this investment is made in Australia and urges the various parties to finalise energy supply negotiations in order to bring this major project to reality quickly," Mr Howard said.
Comalco external affairs general manager Geoffrey Ewing welcomed Mr Howard's announcement but said competitive gas supply and price negotiations had to be reached before the company decided on a location for its refinery.
"There are a number of options if we could not reach agreement on secure, competitively priced gas and Malaysia is still in there," he told said. Comalco has also identified Sarawak in Malaysia as a potential site for the refinery.
Mr Ewing said before price negotiations were concluded, Chevron would have to reach agreement to bring the Hides gas reserves into the project.
"Nothing holds us back from proceeding with the project once the basic economics are there, so there must be competitive price and there must be the guaranteed quantity of gas," he said.
PNG Gas Project external affairs manager Cliff Leggoe said fruitful discussions were underway with Exxon and Oil Search, partners in the Hides gas field.
"I'm not prepared to put a time on when they will be resolved but I'm pleased with the progress to date," he said.
The Hides reserves will add an additional six trillion cubic feet of gas to the PNG gas project's existing 2.5 trillion cubic feet of reserves. - AAP
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