Last week local PNG press reported that around 200 people had stormed SE Gobe, switching off two wells and forcing police to be called in to restore calm and protect the company’s assets. Locals were reportedly angered by the signing of drilling contracts with foreign companies.
However, Botten told PNGIndustryNews.net in Port Moresby last week that production was never halted and the main concern of landholders at SE Gobe was a more efficient system of benefits distribution.
“Production was not halted – activities around the drill rig at SE Gobe-12 were halted,” he said.
“We have had a very good dialogue between ourselves, the Government and the landowners and they have raised a range of issues around benefits distribution, [basically a] redetermination of ownership amongst the landowner groups as the fields evolve.”
Botten explained the recent extension of the SE Gobe field, adding up to six years of resources, had prompted other landholder groups in the area to stake claims for benefits.
“The primary issue was that they were looking at the new reserve distribution in the fields, looking at what the new Saunders discovery meant to the SE Gobe field and the issues surrounding the memorandum of agreement between the Government and the landholders and the benefits that flow from that agreement,” he said.
“Naturally if that has changed, the place where the wealth and oil has changed, it is time to look again at those circumstances. It is too easy to be too rigid in this country. There is a set of principles that we stick to rigidly but when there are obviously things that aren’t right, we would be silly not to address them.”
Botten explained that benefits distribution process was not directly controlled or regulated by the company but by the PNG Government. He conceded that this was an extremely delicate and complicated task in a developing country like PNG.
“Many of their issues are around delivery of services, delivery of roads and schools that have been promised by the National Government. Some of those have been done and some of them haven’t been done,” he said.
“We do see issues and we do see that it certainly could be improved but they are manageable issues and we continue to look at it that way.”
Botten said Oil Search had in place a very comprehensive community relations program to try and circumvent any potential unrest before it became a serious issue.
“It is something that we concentrate on and something that we think we do quite well. That is not to say that we don’t have our critics because there are always people who want more jobs, always people who want a different health program [and so on],” he said.
“When you are spread over 180 square kilometres of activity with a lot of people involved, that is always the case. But the core piece of business is keeping within the community the business development opportunities, building a successful and sustainable landowner base in the areas around our project – this is a fundamental objective for us.
“The track record through PNG in using these techniques in terms of production is outstanding. I think we have lost two days of loading since production started in 1992. To say PNG is a risky place to do business – where you lose your shirt – that is not the case.”
