Review of Papua LNG Underway, Says Kua.
By Bui Wetao,
If what we hear on the streets that the trip to Singapore led by the Minister for Petroleum to meet with officials of Total, the company poised to develop the Second Papuan LNG Gas Project, has failed then the next thing the Government needs to do now is to conduct a commission of inquiry if Total fails to adhere to the simple request to review Agreement that was.
It is understood there are just a few clauses that needed to be added or amended to suit the current Government’s position to ensure we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the current LNG Gas Project but if the company is adamant we go by the initial Agreement in its present form then a Commission of Inquiry will certainly serve everyones interest well.
The country cried for a change of the previous Government that sponsored the Agreement in its current form and it was quite obvious at the time when the Agreement was being progressed that new Government was taking shape and the manner in which Total rushed into signing a contract of such magnitude with a Government that was fast losing its popularity has a lot to be desired.
Therefore it seems obviously necessary for the entire Agreement to be reviewed to establish if what they have captured as benefits for both the Government and the landowners is actually what we would expect after the bad experiences of the first LNG Gas Project.
If Total refuses to go back to the drawing board then its just fitting that a Commission of Inquiry is certainly required here. Pending this, everything elsecmust come to a standstill
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