Photo credit: TotalEnergies
According to an official, Papua New Guinea would gain K86 billion from the Papua LNG project throughout its lifetime.
Jean-Marc Noiray, managing director of Total Energies PNG Ltd, made the comments at the induction ceremony for new lawmakers in Port Moresby. He said this when acknowledging the country’s laws and regulations that governed resource projects as some of the best in the world.
Local laws, according to Noiray, recognised landowners and gave the State and its citizens a powerful role.
“From a regulatory point of view, we have done all that was needed, we have the gas agreement which secures the fiscal and regulatory terms,” he told MPs.
“They are stabilised in a fiscal stability agreement with all the amendments that were required. So we are ready to go.”
According to Noiray, during the course of the project's existence, the State would collect between 50 and 55 percent of its worth.
“The higher the price of the gas, the more the shareholders are going to get,” he added.
“The direct value going to the State we reckon will be in the order and value of US$25 billion (K86 billion) over the life of the project.
“Just half of that is direct from what the developer will pay in terms of income tax than we have other direct taxes that will be paid, the workforce for example which we reckon is in US$3 billion (K10 billion) and indirect benefit in the order of US$8 billon (K27 billion) going to the country.
“All those numbers, we will round them up and will be in the file that we will give to the authorities to try to get our different licenses.
“We are keen to start contributing big to the country and to help the country and its citizens and local communities.”
Reference: Pacific Mining Watch (29 August 2022). “Papua New Guinea getting K86 billion from gas”.
