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Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (694)	8/10/1998 8:45:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Papua New Guinea: Partners sweat on gas sales, equity Post Courier, Tuesday August 11 SECURING agreements with base customers and sorting out the legal framework for landowner participation in the PNG gas pipeline project are two of the key issues which remain unresolved, according to project insiders. Getting foundation customers like Comalco to formally commit to the project would be critical, they said. A decision from Comalco, which is uncommitted on whether it will build an alumina smelter in Queensland or Malaysia, is expected by the end of this month. Matters relating to landowner participation were contained in a landowner benefits package which Petroleum and Energy Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu expected would also be finalised by the end of August. The landowner benefits package is one of three bills likely to go before parliament in the September session. The other two relate to the pipeline and downstream processing. Project insiders said the legal framework would give investors the confidence to deal with landowners, and together with various other agreements would ensure continuity in the supply of gas. Sir Rabbie yesterday urged the project participants to iron out any outstanding equity issues ''in the boardroom''. He said the equity issue was one of a number of matters vital to the project's progression and needed to be addressed within the next six weeks. When pressed to comment on allegations that there were some ''jockeying going on'' in relation to project equity, Mr Namaliu said the Government wanted all partners to stick together. ''They know (the Government's) views. We want all the partners to stick together and resolve all the outstanding issues in the boardroom,'' he said. The project sources spoken to by the Post-Courier said the equity issue was yet to settled but more important was the securing of a market. It is understood there is still some major disagreements in the PNG Gas consortium over project equity. Sir Rabbie spoke with reporters yesterday after returning from Australia, where he had accompanied Prime Minister Bill Skate on his State visit. While in Australia, they signed two memorandums of understanding, one with the Federal Government and another with the Queensland state government. Other than the question of the final equity structure and markets, Sir Rabbie said pricing was also an outstanding issue which needed to be resolved. ''I think the decisions to be made in the next six weeks by the governments of PNG, Australia and Queensland Chevron and partners as well as base customers like Comalco are very critical to the success or failure of the gas pipeline project. ''A lot of effort has been made by all parties concerned to bring the project to this stage and therefore momentum must be maintained until legal commitments are secured from all parties,'' he said. 203.22.79.35 ______________________________________________ PNG, Queensland to meet more regularly Post Courier, Tuesday August 11 QUEENSLAND and PNG have agreed to set up a joint ministerial forum to discuss matters of mutual interest, Petroleum and Energy Minister Sir Rabbie said yesterday. Sir Rabbie said early meetings would focus on the proposed PNG Gas project, which will see a pipeline built between PNG and Queensland. The forum would be a similar format to the annual Australia/PNG ministerial forum. Sir Rabbie said the decision to set up the forum was agreed to during discussions with Queensland Premier Peter Beattie in Brisbane last week. Sir Rabbie said a joint bureaucratic committee was expected to be formalised ''very shortly'' to start work on the how the forum would operate. The joint ministerial committee would meet ''as required to discuss issues of mutual interest to PNG and Queensland, including the gas pipeline project'', he said. Sir Rabbie also reiterated the importance of the gas project to both Queensland and PNG. 203.22.79.35