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The PNG cabinet recently approved the establishment of Petromin, which is able to acquire up to a 22.5% interest in petroleum developments and a 30% stake in mining ventures.
Cabinet has given control of Petromin and all liquefied natural gas issues to Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Paul Tiensten.
“The Government needs to be in the driver’s seat [but] the Government, as the state, doesn’t have any commercial arm,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
“But once we have a commercial arm then that commercial arm will do the same business like all the other licensing. We will resource it with [the] best brains – people who know about the gas business, [and] people who know about petrochemicals or mining to be working for PNG.
“That’s what we’ve been missing because we allow licences to drive the agenda [rather] than us having our own company.”
Tiensten said LNG commercialisation appeared to be lucrative.
