More LNG trains likely for Papua New Guinea, Chamber of Commerce comes out in support of INA head, and gas-fired power may be coming to Port Moresby. The week’s business news in brief.

Peter Botten, the Chief Executive Officer of PNG LNG venture partner Oil Search Limited has predicted his company will be involved in two or possibly three new LNG trains over the next five years in Papua New Guinea. He has also reveleaed that Oil Search is in ‘formal negotiations’ to resolve its dispute with InterOil over pre-emptive rights to the Elk-Antelope gas fields.

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Further to last week’s appeal to business to donate to the Solomon Islands following Cyclone Ita, a similar call has been issued by the PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry for support for PNG’s Milne Bay Province, where more than 50,000 people have also reportedly been affected by the cyclone.

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Ron Seddon, President of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has come out in support of Paul Barker, the Executive Director of industry think-tank, the Institute of National Affairs following reported suggestions by NCD Governor Powes Parkop that Barker’s criticisms of the NCD’s infrastructure priorities might be ‘in breach of his visa and work conditions’.

‘Paul is a respected  authority and pundit on all matters PNG , as his job demands he be,’ said Seddon in a statement. ‘To suggest deportation for merely stating an alternative opinion would be a sad day for democracy in our country, and to enact it would be a gross abuse of executive power by any government.’

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The Managing Director of the National Petroleum Company of PNG, Wapu Sonk, has confirmed the state-owned company has entered into negotiations with ExxonMobil to purchase gas from the PNG LNG Project for power generation in Port Moresby.

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A report on illegal logging in PNG’s forestry industry by Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs in the UK, has found that ‘illegal practices are widespread in Papua New Guinea’s forest sector‘ and ‘greater resources are required to strengthen law enforcement and implementation.’

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Finally, this graphic released by the Asian Development Bank shows economic integration within the Asia-Pacific region is growing fast. In the first nine months of 2013, 69% of all of the Pacific and Oceania’s trade was with fellow Asia-Pacific economies.