Woodside drops takeover bid for Oil Search, coffee pulper machine installed for smallholders in Jiwaka Province, and market conditions force Hides Gas Development Company to cut workforce. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd has formally dropped its A$11.6 billion bid to buy Oil Search Ltd. Oil Search ‘s Peter Botten has noted Woodside’s withdrawal, repeating its board considered it ‘grossly undervalued’ the company.

***

A new K50,000 coffee pulper machine to improve standards has been installed for smallholder farmers in Jiwaka Province. It is the first to be installed by the Coffee Industry Corporation, through the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project, a World Bank and International Fund for Agriculture Development-funded initiative to rehabilitate coffee production in the country.

***

The Hides Gas Development Company Ltd has stood down 400 employees from its drilling, construction, maintenance and operations divisions. Chairman Tuguyawini Libe Parindali blames the low global oil prices, the end of the construction phase of the PNG LNG project and dry weather.

***

FGH’s Dr Fereidun Fesharaki.

Oil and gas forecaster, Dr Fereidun Fesharaki of FG Consultants, predicts crude oil could drop to US$30 a barrel within the next six months. He sees liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices falling to about US$4 MMBTU, down from current spot prices of about $US7-$US8 per MMBTU. He says the expansion of PNG’s LNG projects is one of only three that could move forward in coming years.

***

PNG Immigration and Citizenship Services Authority acting deputy Chief Migration Officer Clarence Parisau says the Government has waived certain protocols, paving the way for refugees to get jobs.

***

Swire Shipping has entered into a space sharing agreement with Austral Asia Liner (AAL) to boost its North Asia to Australia and PNG service, commencing on 14 December, 2015.

***

Dame Meg Taylor, the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, believes ‘never before has it been so important to amplify the Pacific voice’ regarding the adverse challenges of climate change. Speaking at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Dame Meg, who is also the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, reiterated that there must be an ‘ambitious and legally binding agreement’ addressing climate change issues in the region.

***

State Investments Minister Ben Micah has launched Kumul Consolidated Holdings, which is replacing the Independent Public Business Corporation.

***

A bluefin tuna in Pacific waters.

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) says it is deeply disappointed with the failure by members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to reach an amicable solution on bigeye tuna that would address its overfished status. PNA Chairman Eugene Pangelinan said ‘it was evident that certain distant water fishing nations were determined to derail the whole process’.

***

The Executive Director of the American Tuna Boat Association says the Pacific’s tuna treaty with the United States is in crisis and the long-term future of its tuna fleet in the region in doubt. Brian Hallman says the industry can no longer afford the number of Pacific fishing days it agreed to buy. The US fleet agreed to buy 5,700 fishing days, but now it’s asking the PNA to reduce that to just 2,000 days.

***

The Pacific’s chief trade adviser in the PACER Plus negotiations, Edwini Kessie, says Australia and New Zealand will allow the island countries to charge tariffs to protect their struggling industries. Dr Kessie says the aim is to have the deal completed by the middle of next year.

***

Mining giant, Anglo American plc, which is a joint venture partner in the Star Mountain copper-gold project in Western Province, plans to cut up to 85,000 jobs across its global operations as part of a major restructure in response to the low commodity price environment.

***

UK-based Papua Mining plc has conditionally agreed to raise £262,000 (K1.17 million) through a share placement. The company plans to use the funds to complete a geochemical sampling programme and carry out the initial phase of drilling at the Mount Visi project, which straddles East and West New Britain.

***

Solomon Airlines, Air Vanuatu and Air Niugini have confirmed a tripartite code-share agreement. Solomon Airlines will be able to buy seats from Air Niugini on its four weekly flights from Port Moresby to Honiara and vice versa. The three airlines will also codeshare a weekly Port Vila service.

***

Soft tyre roller and road crew completing the sealing of one of Arawa’s town roads.

Pacific weather forecasters in NZ say Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, the southern Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and New Caledonia can expect below normal rain levels over the next three months.

***

And finally, eight key roads in Arawa, Bougainville have been upgraded at a cost of K4.3 million. ‘It now takes much less time to bring clients to my guesthouse and go to the market or bank. It is a smoother ride not having to swerve to avoid potholes, and pedestrians in town are now safer,’ says local business owner, Bertha Lorenz, quoted in an Australian High Commission media release.