InterOil to begin eight new wells in Gulf Province, Lae business chamber calls for more fire services, and Bougainville prepares for referendum. Your quick digest of the week’s business news.

Oil and gas company, InterOil Corporation, announced that it will begin drilling the first of up to eight wells in the Elk-Antelope fields in Gulf Province in March, as part of a US$325 million (K816 million) drilling programme. A company statement said the whole drilling campaign will take 12 to 15 months.

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The Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry is to campaign for an improved fire service, following the destruction of two buildings, belonging to G4S and New Guinea Wholesale Drugstore. Chamber president Allan McLay says Lae needs at two fire stations, pointing out that Port Moresby has four.

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Prime Minister Peter O’Neill will visit Bougainville Island for two days next week, to launch an Awareness campaign about the Bougainville Peace Agreement. Meanwhile, Bougainville’s Acting Chief Administrator, Chris Siriosi, says politicians are preparing to unite and work together on issues, as the five-year period leading up to an independence referendum draws near.

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Biofuel from coconut has the potential to drive the economy of PNG, according to Kevin Bolton, general manager of PNG Biofuels based on Karkar Island in Madang Province. Bolton says his biodiesel plant produces 30,000 litres of fuel per month and had the capacity to increase production to five million plus litres of fuel per year.

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 The CEO of Bemobile Solomon Islands, Niall Downey, says the company is hoping to offer 100% coverage by the end of this month. “New towers will be rolled out in the provinces in the last quarter of 2014 with 3G updates for their existing towers,” he told Solomon Star News.

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Fiji’s military ruler, Commodore Bainimarama has announced he will resign in March to focus on campaigning with a new political party in national elections, due in September. Bainimarama has been acting Prime Minister since he seized power in December, 2006.

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A Papua New Guinea judge has stayed all arrest warrants being faced by politicians implicated in an anti-corruption probe into illegal payments to a law firm. The matter follows an attempt by the police commissioner to arrest the opposition leader Belden Namah at the weekend. Justice Catherine Davani adjourned the case for three weeks.

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London-based entrepreneur Ian Gowrie-Smith says he’s open to offers for the Conflict Islands in Milne Bay. Gowrie-Smith has told Business Advantage PNG, the islands were valued at US$25 million (K60.5 million) when he bought them in 2003. He says they are the only known freehold islands in PNG.

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 Two Australian architectural firms have won the contract to design Papua New Guinea’s new K276 million (A$125 million) courthouse. The design and documentation project will involve the Cairns, PNG and Brisbane offices of Peddle Thorp, along with James Cubitt Architects.

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Airlines PNG has announced a new schedule from February, after investing in two more Dash-8 aircraft. New services will link Lae, Kokopo, Buka and Kavieng; Lae and Alotau; Port Moresby with Hoskins and Madang; and Goroka with Lae, Mt Hagen and Tabubil.

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Finally, the American Samoan longline fishing fleet is on the market. Fishermen say they are frustrated by high territory government fees and taxes and the stiff competition from Chinese-subsidised boats who are undercutting their prices.