Production resumes at the LNG plant as more reserves found, BHP Billiton to be sued over alleged environmental damage, and talks with China over a free trade agreement. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

ExxonMobil reports gas production has resumed at the PNG LNG project, following a temporary shutdown of operations after February’s earthquake. Production was not due to start until early May. LNG exports are expected to resume soon.

ExxonMobil has also announced that gas reserves in its P’nyang field in Western Province are 84 percent higher than previously thought, and this could potentially expand the P’nyang field facilities for the PNG LNG project. However, Petroleum Minister, Fabian Pok, reportedly says it is the government’s understanding the P’nyang field will be a standalone project.

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The Government reportedly says it will sue Australian mining giant BHP Billiton for alleged environmental damage in the Western Province when the company was operating the country’s largest copper mine, Ok Tedi, in the 1990s.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Rimbink Pato, has reportedly had talks with China about establishing a free trade agreement. A feasibility study, and related Memorandum of Understanding, are expected to be signed in November, when China’s President Xi Jinping visits PNG for the APEC Leader’s Summit.

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Cleaning up Port Moresby beach of plastics. Credit: Striped Trees Productions.

The Government will impose an environment levy on the import and manufacture of all plastic shopping bags, after the Minister of Environment and Conservation, John Pundari, acknowledged in Parliament that plastic littering continues to worsen every day. He said since 2014, up to 460,000kg of PSB bags had been imported.

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Parliament has made amendments to the Ok Tedi Agreement to allow the company to get access to US$35 million (K116 million) to sustain its operations and growth. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the company would take the money from its reserve fund, designed to fund its mine closure obligations, estimated at US$196 million. The fund currently has US$231 million and O’Neill reportedly said it was therefore overfunded by US$35m (K113 million).

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Barrick (Niugini) Limited, operator of the Porgera Mine in Enga, has said that operations were temporarily suspended last week after a violent confrontation broke out between groups of illegal miners, according to the Post Courier.

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PNG Power and the World Bank is carrying out a 12-month strategic plan ‘to develop least-cost development plans for our generation, transmission and distribution systems’. The plan will examine the implications of reaching the target of 70 per cent electrification by 2030.

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Trade union leader, John Paska, claims tens of thousands of workers, mostly on PNG’s minimum wage, have been underpaid an estimated $US224 million dollars over the past five years, according to Radio NZ. Paska says often employers pay just 2.50 kina to minimum wage earners when the rate is 3.50 kina.

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Coca-Cola Amatil (PNG) has reportedly opened a new K35 million kina fully automated can-line at its Lae production plant.

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Banz Kofi Fektori is the first PNG coffee producer to achieve the internationally recognised Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) accreditation. The accreditation means Banz Kofi products can be exported to Australia and other countries where HACCP accreditation is a requirement before accepting imports.

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The Government and Bank of Papua New Guinea have chosen the remote Finschhafen district in Morobe province to be a ‘special economic zone’ to trial a fully integrated financial and identification system, using blockchain technology. Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani reportedly said he hoped blockchain technology, and the eventual use of Bitcoins, could help to improve the problem of critical imbalance in the unbanked masses.

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The National Court has granted an application by Bougainville Copper Ltd for a judicial review of the Bougainville Government’s moratorium on granting an exploration licence over the Panguna copper mine, according to Loop PNG.

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Treasurer Charles Abel has told The National the Independent Consumer Competition Commission and the National Planning Department will review the cost of imported rice to determine whether importers are charging a fair price. He said the review would look at at the cost of rice in Thailand, Philippines or Myanmar. Freight, handling, packaging and the domestic cost of transport will also be examined.

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Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has officially accepted from China the multi-million kina International Convention Centre in Port Moresby, which will host the 2018 APEC Forum. China is now building a six-lane road linking Waigani Drive to Parliament House, and will also upgrade the Poreporena freeway at a cost of K110 million.

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Photograph of the Week

The wreckage of USS Helena which played an integral role in the Battle of Guadalcanal, has been found 900 metres below the surface, in the New Georgia Sound off the coast of the Solomon Islands. Credit: Paul Allen