By
MALUM NALU
Australian Marc
Gerrits, Shell’s vice-president exploration – Asia, was born in Angoram along
the Sepik River and spent his early years in PNG before returning to Australia
in 1977, where he completed high school and university to become a geologist.
Gerrits, who was
instrumental in Shell’s return to PNG, admitted in an interview with The National yesterday that his heart
was still with PNG as that was where he was born.
“Your heart is where
you were born,” he said.
:
Marc Gerrits…’home is where the heart is’.-Picture by ROY SANGI of Petromin
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“I was born in Angoram
along the Sepik River in 1964.
“My father was a doctor
in Angoram.
“We then moved to
Popondetta, Kiriwina, then Maprik and Wewak.
“My father was a
leprosy and TB specialist.
“He was and is very
interested in the culture.
“He is at the moment
writing a book on culture in the Maprik area.”
Gerrits said Shell had
been studying developments in PNG for quite a while now before deciding to
return.
“We operate many gas
projects around the world,” he said.
“We work closely with
governments and national oil companies for the people.
“That’s exactly what we
want to do here.
“We believe very
strongly in developing local talent.
“We operate very much
from a position of business principles.
“In terms of PNG, we
have a long working history here.
“We hope opportunities
will emerge to do more.”
Asked about what
projects Shell would be involved in, Gerrits said: “It’s still very early days.
“The ingredients are
good.
“Papua New Guinea is
very promising.
“We’re no longer
involved in downstream here.
“There has been a
significant degree of success in PNG.
“We firmly believe that
there’s more to come and I believe Shell is part of that bigger picture.”
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