The departing Oil Search Managing Director tells Business Advantage PNG he remains positive about Papua New Guinea’s economic future, saying that LNG investment can help fund a stronger, more diversified economy. And he has some parting advice.

Oil Search’s Peter Botten. Credit: Oil Search

With Peter Botten retiring from the top job at Oil Search, after 25 years in the role, he admits to Business Advantage PNG that he is ‘disappointed’ not to see the P’nyang project on a better footing.

Nevertheless, he is positive about the future of the oil and gas sector in PNG and says that it could be a key driver of Prime Minister James Marape’s dream of a more diverse economy.

‘To build the platform to diversify the economy, it will take some time and the best way of building the bridge is continued investment in the resources sector,’ Botten says. ‘That will allow infrastructure, it will allow employment development and skills development to happen over a period of time so that, in 10 years time, the economy can be much more diverse.’

The departing Oil Search boss says that he considers it ‘laudable’ that the government wants to shift the focus of the economy away from resources and to make sure no Papua New Guinean is left behind, he also says he understands the government pushing back in its negotiations with ExxonMobil.

‘Things have changed a lot, PNG is absolutely on the world financial stage.’

‘It is quite normal and quite healthy for governments around the world to question the amount of value they get out of the finite resources in their country,’ he says. ‘Australia does it, the UK does it regularly and it is normal for PNG to ask appropriate questions around that balance.’

But he hopes that it has a positive resolution, for both PNG and the oil and gas sector.

‘There is ongoing dialogue, and I really genuinely look forward to seeing the project progress,’ he adds.

Looking back, moving forward

Botten first came to PNG in 1992, when he says that the most common investment question was: ‘Where is Papua New Guinea?’ Oil Search was also a very different company with only eight employees and a market capitalisation of just $250 million dollars. Botten was tasked with growing the business and he says he faced a number of challenges.

‘The first one really was when we bet the farm by buying BP out of PNG,’ he says. ‘That deal was done in 1998 and it was an essential deal that set us up with the gas assets that we have today and the interest we have in the [ExxonMobil-operated] PNG LNG project. But it was very challenging on the back of an oil price that quickly went down after that transaction.’

‘It is also absolutely morally the right thing to do to properly engage with our communities and work with them on some of their challenges in their own economic and social development.’

The 29 per cent holding in the PNG LNG project transformed Oil Search into the company it is today, with an almost $10 billion market capitalisation on the Australian Stock Exchange, but these early challenges also shaped Botten’s approach to doing business in PNG.

‘At the time, PNG LNG was the second-largest investment project after the channel tunnel in Europe and it was taking place at the depths of the financial crisis,’ he says. ‘It attests to the confidence that people had in Exxon to deliver the project, but how Oil Search handled the landowner community issues was key to its success.’

PNG in a difference place

Now Botten leaves the top job with PNG’s oil and gas industry, and Papua New Guinea itself, in a very different, more positive place.

‘Things have changed a lot, PNG is absolutely on the world financial stage,’ he says. ‘And it is looked at regularly by a lot of people as to what it is doing and where it is going and it is being measured on a regular basis.’

Botten has played a key role as an international champion for PNG. In his two and a half decades in the country’s oil and gas industry, his career has been defined not only by his affection for the country, but his belief in a fair deal for Papua New Guineans.

‘It is also absolutely morally the right thing to do to properly engage with our communities and work with them on some of their challenges in their own economic and social development.’

‘What has kept me in PNG is that the people are just outstanding people to work with.’

This is reflected in Oil Search’s Social Responsibility Strategy and Botten’s work with the Oil Search Foundation on projects such as building schools and health facilities, right up to helping with the aftermath of the 2018 earthquake, which devastated areas in PNG’s Highlands.

‘It is an absolutely compelling business case for us, because if you don’t help and these people get left behind, sooner or later it will have an impact on your operating ability in those areas,’ he says.

This community interaction is one of the key things that Botten says he will miss as he steps down as Managing Director, handing over the reins to Keiran Wulff. He says, however, that he expects to continue in some capacity with the Foundation.

The idea of legacy

Oil Search’s Apprentice Program Class 2020. Credit: Oil Search

For Botten, some of his proudest achievements are watching his employees flourish and to know that he can make a difference in people’s lives in Papua New Guinea.

‘What has kept me in PNG is that the people are just outstanding people to work with and every day you can get up and make a positive difference to those people and that is what keeps you coming back,’ he says.

And he has some advice for anyone thinking of embarking on a career in his beloved Pacific nation.

‘One very strong piece of advice I have, but also that I would give, is to be genuine,’ he says. ‘Be genuine about what you are trying to do, and be straightforward about what you are able to do or not do. These were pieces of advice I was given early on and I would pass them on with absolute fanaticism to someone new in country.’