K500 million deal for LNG landowners

By PATRICK TALU

 

LANDOWNERS will succeed if they stop waiting to be fed by politicians, put their businessmen’s cap on and prepare themselves for the challenge of businesses with global reputation, The National reports.

Hides landowner leader Larry Andagali echoed this when landowner company Trans Wonderland Ltd (TWL) clinched a lucrative deal associated with the PNG LNG project.

TWL, the flagship umbrella company representing seven gas-field landowner companies in Southern Highlands, yesterday signed a contract worth more than K500 million to provide logistics to the PNG LNG project.

The contract was for a three-year period.

The deal was signed between TWL, PNG LNG project operator Esso Highlands Ltd and Agility Ltd, the world’s leading logistics mover.

Under the agreement, TWL and its partners will provide a central base of operations in Lae, for receipt, storage and processing of goods and equipment to be transported to the project site and supply trucking resources drawn from a number of companies.

The trucking resources and operation will be provided through the joint venture partnership; Northern Logistic Group Joint Venture between five logistic companies.

These companies included TWL, Mapai Transport, Traisa and Kutubu Transport.

Andagali, who is a director of TWL, said it dawned on him during the signing of the umbrella benefits sharing agreement in Kokopo last year that if landowners were to succeed, they had to organise themselves.

“I had to remove my landowner cap and wear the businessman’s cap.

“I realise I could not milk anything from Peter Graham, so we had to organise ourselves and get details, however small, right.

“This (contract) was not given to me on a golden platter.

“We had to work hard and organise ourselves for it,” he added.

He said it underscored the importance of the national content plan.

Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma welcomed the TWL deal.

Duma said as minister responsible for oil and gas, he would have preferred to see a landowner company awarded a multi-million-kina contract in its own right.

Esa’ala MP Moses Maladina said the contract was another option for landowners, instead of waiting for royalties and dividends.

The early works of the PNG LNG project had suffered some stop-work due to landowner protests, but the government insisted it was on track to ship its first gas in 2014.