The Business Advantage PNG editorial team was among the delegates at the 2024 Papua New Guinea Investment Week (formerly the Papua New Guinea Resources & Energy Investment Conference) in Sydney, held from December 8-11. Here are our top five takeaways from the event.

Pasca A project. Credit: Twinza

1. Pasca development one step closer

The Papua New Guinea Government signed a long-anticipated Gas Agreement with Twinza during the conference, completing an important and essential step on the path to the development of the proposed US$1.5 billion Pasca A project off the coast of Gulf Province.

In a statement, the government said the agreement would give the State a 70 per cent share in the benefits from the project – including taxes, royalties and equity participation. It said it would submit the agreement to the National Executive Council (PNG’s cabinet) for approval this week.

In June 2024, Twinza and the state-owned Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) announced a series of binding agreements which will see MRDC acquire up to a 50 per cent participating interest in what would be PNG’s first offshore gas project.

A final investment decision (FID) still remains ahead for the developers. Twinza Chairman Stephen Quantrill has told Business Advantage PNG that pre-FID activities and MRDC’s initial investment in Pasca A would commence once the Pasca Gas Agreement has been agreed and signed.

2. P’nyang development expedited

ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners will expedite preparations for the US$11 billion development of the P’nyang gas field in Western Province, Johanna Boothey, Vice President Development for ExxonMobil PNG, revealed to the conference.

Boothey said the JV partners – comprising ExxonMobil, Ampolex, Santos and JX Nippon – would assemble ground survey teams and open an office in Western Province in “the coming weeks.”

She said they were now targeting preliminary front-end engineering design in the second quarter of 2025, “years sooner than previously envisaged.”

Previously, ExxonMobil had indicated that P’nyang’s four-year construction period would begin once the TotalEnergies-led Papua LNG project (in which ExxonMobil has a 37.04 per cent share) goes into production. This would appear to be no longer be the case, meaning the two gas projects could be developed simultaneously.

A final investment decision on Papua LNG was pushed back earlier this year, with TotalEnergies now expecting to reach an FID by the end of 2025.

Prime Minister Marape onstage with Tracey Spicer. Credit: BAI

Dancers perform onstage. Credit: BAI

P’nyang timeline. Credit: BAI

3. No Wafi announcement until 2025, at least

There were some expectations of an announcement of a Mine Development Contract for the Wafi-Golpu copper-gold project in Morobe Province at the conference, but this did not eventuate.

Prime Minister James Marape said in his address to the conference that Wafi “will be concluded very soon.”

He added in a separate press release that the State Negotiating Team and project owners Newmont Corporation and Harmony Gold were at “advanced mature stages” of negotiating.

“For Wafi-Golpu, we are now tidying up the last three issues that will enable us to frame the Mine Development Contract,” Marape said, noting that the government was committed to securing at least 55 per cent of total lifetime economic value of the project.

Mark Rodgers, the new Managing Director of Newmont PNG, spoke about Newmont’s wholly owned Lihir mine in his speech to the conference, without mentioning Wafi-Golpu.

4. Production-sharing reforms in play next year

The Marape Government will implement its long-standing plans for a production-sharing framework for the oil and gas sector in 2025, according to Minister for Petroleum Jimmy Maladina.

Maladina told the conference that the government would commence stakeholder consultations in mid-January, with the aim of finalising the framework by PNG’s 50th anniversary of independence in September. He said the framework would not apply to existing projects.

The framework “will define the way PNG manages its resources, ensuring a fair return for the investors and a timely realisation of the benefits for the people of Papua New Guinea,” he said.

As part of its planned reforms, Maladina said the government will present a bill to Parliament in March to establish a National Petroleum Authority. He said the authority will serve as the independent regulator tasked with overseeing petroleum licencing, ensuring investor compliance by investors, streamlining approvals and administering production-sharing agreements.

5. Privatisation of PNG Power, Telikom back on agenda

The PNG government has approved putting up a portion of the embattled state-owned power company, PNG Power Limited, according to Prime Minister James Marape.

Marape told the conference that the cabinet approved the decision in one of its final meetings of 2024, adding that it would soon be formally advertised. He said the State will continue to maintain an interest in PNG Power, with the investor to take over management of the enterprise.

Meanwhile, Telikom PNG Acting CEO Amos Tepi confirmed to Business Advantage PNG on the conference sidelines that privatisation plans for the state-owned telecommunications company are still in play.

For more in-depth coverage of Papua New Guinea’s mining and energy sectors, read Business Advantage PNG’s Mining & Energy Special Edition 2024/25, which was published in October.