Blockade of PNG LNG site now its second week, Trade Minister threatens Fiji over refusal to import PNG products, and fears of job losses if rice import quotas introduced. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Energy Minister Nixon Duban says the government is committed to resolving a dispute at the Liquified Natural Gas project in Hela province where five wells run by ExxonMobil remain blocked off. Duban said ExxonMobil’s operation had suffered a little as a result of the protest but had improved following the respective visits by the state teams last week. Landowner leader and owner of Trans Wonderland, Larry Andagali, says it is in the best interest of the people to halt the LNG operations and let the government complete its task of addressing issues raised by the landowners.

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Landowner leader, Larry Andagali

Fears are growing of a trade war between PNG and Fiji. The Post Courier is reporting that the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Richard Maru, has threatened to retaliate against Fiji ‘if it continued to refuse the entry of PNG made products including its Ox and Palm corned beef into its market’. Fiji has a trade surplus with PNG and last year exported K51.98 million (US$16.4 million) worth of goods to PNG while importing more thanK15.84 million  (US$5 million) of PNG products.

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Meanwhile, the national rice policy and introduction of import quotas will affect production and jobs, says Trukai Industries CEO,  Greg Worthington-Eyre. He said while details of the policy remained unclear,  jobs far beyond the 1,000 employees of Trukai could be at significant risk.

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There’s no reason why PNG families should have ‘bottled water, cream biscuits or hard biscuits made in China, Indonesia or Fiji on our meeting tables or in our homes’, the PNG Manufacturers Council CEO, Chey Scovell, has told The National. He’s called for government subsidies for the manufacturing sector, and help to boost production and exports.

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Former army commander, Major General Jerry Singirok, says he is concerned the proliferation of illegal guns in PNG will threaten security during next June’s general election, according to Radio NZ. He is reported to have challenged the Government to rid the country of illegal firearms before the election, adding guns are ‘the biggest single threat to society’.

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BHP Billiton CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, says commodity prices are likely to remain low and volatile in the medium term, as the global miner unveiled a record full year loss of US$6.39 billion (K19.9 billion).

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The Lihir gold mine in New Ireland generated US$307 million (K950.7 million) last financial year, according to Newcrest MD, Sandeep Biswas. Lihir produced 900,034 ounces of gold during the year.

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Chinese building contractor Yinjiang Industry plans to build 20,000 houses out of the total 44,000 to be built on Duran Farm near Eight-Mile just outside Port Moresby, Loop reports. It is claimed that PNG’s National Housing Commission plans to deliver 5,000 houses by 2017 in the first phase of the project and a total of 44,000 new homes by 2020.

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Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has told Parliament that even if InterOil shareholders accept the offer from ExxonMobil, the French company, Total, will remain as the operator of the second LNG plant. The Post Courier says O’Neill also said the Government did not bid for InterOil because, at US$20 billion, developing the Papua LNG project was far too costly for the Government.

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Indonesia’s mining ministry has recommended that the international mining giant, Freeport-McMoRan, be granted a new export permit, albeit for a shorter period than requested. The Indonesian government said it will ban all copper concentrate permits from January 2017 as it seeks to become a producer of finished goods, rather than an exporter of raw materials.

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Gold medallists: Fiji. Credit: olympic.org

And finally, Fiji’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has called a national holiday for Monday, August 22nd, to mark Fiji’s Rugby Sevens gold medal win at the Rio Olympics. It was Fiji’s first ever gold medal. Well played.