Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua sees a bright future for the Oil and Gas industry.
According to Kua, the price of a barrel is currently over US$60 (K207.63).
“The outlook for the industry is still good and positive and the industry is still in very strong shape,” he said.
The Covid-19 pandemic, he said, remained a challenge to the industry.
However, the operator of the PNG LNG project, ExxonMobil PNG Ltd, took a professional approach to deal with the issue.
Globally, US oil prices are down 42 cents (K1.47), or 0.7 per cent, to US$62.71 (K219.89) a barrel, after rising 6.4 per cent last week as a result of the revival of Covid-19 cases around the world and countries imposing tougher sanctions that would hurt economic growth.
Oil Search Ltd, a partner in the PNG LNG project, recently said that the increase in Covid-19 cases in PNG has had no impact on its operations and production.
“To date, there has been no impact to production in our Oil Search operations in PNG as a result of the recent surge in the Covid-19 cases,” Kua said.
“The increase in confirmed Covid-19 cases in PNG has prompted Oil Search to enact its crisis and emergency management plans.
“The health and safety of our employees remain the highest priority and teams have been assembled in PNG and Sydney to deploy additional support to protect our people and to ensure the safety and reliability of our operations.
“At our PNG field locations, we continue to operate under precautionary protocols established in 2020, which includes redeployment of non-essential personnel, restriction of access and travel to field locations and implementation of strict preventative measures and quarantine zones.”
