Esso Highlands concerned about resource ownership

By MALUM NALU

Esso Highlands managing director Peter Graham has expressed concern about the issue of resource ownership which appeared in The National yesterday.

He told the Papua New Guinea Advantage 2012 investment conference in Port Moresby yesterday that such things made investors “nervous”.

Lawyer Hubert Namani told a mining industry gathering organised by the Mineral Resource Authority last Friday that it was only a matter of time before “resource nationalism” – a growing global trend – came to PNG.

The proposed amendment to the Mining Act was endorsed by three key figures – North Fly MP Boka Kondra, Central Bougainville MP James Miringtoro and former Western Governor Bob Danaya – and seeks that resources belong to the people and not the state.

Lawyer Peter Donigi, the architect of this bill, argues that resources belong to the people and, therefore, investors are required to enter into contracts with the owner of the resource to extract the resource.

He said PNG had the lowest return at 22.5% for oil and gas and 30% for minerals.

“From an investment perspective, one of the things that strikes me is stability,” Graham told the conference.

“Removal of uncertainty around investments.

“Reading this morning’s paper, the issue of resource ownership has popped up: transfer of ownership of resources from state to landowners.

“The uncertainty of that is not going to do any constructive to current investments in this country.

“It’s an issue that we’ve been given assurance by the new government that it’s not going to get legs and move on.

“I think investors around the country are wondering about the fiscal regime, the regulatory regime, the ownership regime.

“That’s the sort of thing that makes people nervous.”