Ok Tedi mine reopens after drought causes suspension, Kumul Petroleum renegotiates UBS loan for Oil Search shares and Steamships announces 11% profit increase. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

The Ok Tedi mine in Western Province, Papua New Guinea’s largest mine, has resumed operations, after closing last August because of the El Nino drought. Managing Director Peter Graham welcomed back on site 800 workers as operations progressively start. He said the numbers would ramp up to a full complement by mid-March.

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Kumul Petroleum has announced it has successfully extended the financing arrangement for the controversial K3 billion UBS loan for the state’s 10 per cent shareholding interests in Oil Search Limited. Managing Director Wapu Sonk told Business Advantage PNG that despite claims on social media, there was no US$400m penalty payment. ‘We worked with UBS and JP Morgan to extend the payment, and closed the deal in good time before the collar expired,’ he says. Oil Search shares are trading at $6.80, about 30 per cent lower than their 2014 peak.

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Steamships Trading Company Limited announced a profit after tax and minority interest of K99 million for the 12 months to December 2015, up 11.6 per cent on the previous year. However, the company’s pre-tax net income (profit attributable to shareholders) fell 25.9 percent to K80.7 million. Revenue from continuing operations also fell by 12 per cent. The board blamed the slowdown on weaker economic conditions and the effects of the El-Nino, which it says significantly affected ‘our riverine shipping activity in the Western Gulf’. The company also said ‘a continued lack of foreign currency is restricting imports and making further domestic capital investment difficult.’

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Nambawan Super  recorded an after-tax profit of K280 million in its 2015 financial year. In its annual report, the company says the Board and Management are continuing talks with the National Government regarding the unfunded superannuation liability of K2.07 billion.

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PNG Air plans to introduce direct flights between Mt Hagen and Jayapura in the Papua province of Indonesia this year.

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Air Niugini’s Sir Fred Reiher

Air Niugini chairman Sir Frederick Reiher has announced that test charter flights to the Federated States of Micronesia will begin in September this year. He also confirmed that the airline has made a deposit of US$1 million (K3.04 million) for four Boeing B737 MAX airplanes.

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The repair bill for the Highlands Highway  is about K4 million, says Eastern Highlands Works manager John Posagu. Heavy rains caused landslips at Kolwara in Kainantu and washed out the Bena Bridge near Goroka. The bridge is back in action, after two weeks of repairs.

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The PNG Defence Force has signed an K18 million agreement to buy six new aircraft from New Zealand for border patrols, marine surveillance and the provision of disaster relief. The acquisition is also expected to assist with nation building by helping provide government services, such as the delivery of health and education.

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The late Sir Peter Kenilorea

Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio has expressed his condolences at the death of Solomon Islands’ founding father and first prime minister, Sir Peter Kenilorea.

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Papua New Guinea will provide K5.5 million to Fiji for the recovery effort following Cyclone Winston, says Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill.

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And finally, the long-serving doyen of Pacific journalists, Sean Dorney, points out there are more Polynesians in Australia than Melanesians despite Australia’s historical links with Papua New Guinea. In his paper, ‘The Embarrassed Colonialist’, Dorney says Australia needs to acknowledge its colonial past in order to move to a deeper level of engagement with the Papua New Guinea of today.