Record-breaker expected to hold oil

INTEROIL’S Antelope-2 well in Papua New Guinea has flowed 705 million cubic feet of gas per day and yielded 11,200 barrels of condensate per day, breaking another world record.

 The better than anticipated results, which are equivalent to about 129,000bbl of oil per day, follows the Guinness Book of World Record certification of Antelope-1 back in March, which flowed 382MMcfd and yielded 5000bbl condensate.

The gas flow test for Antelope-2, lying 2.3 miles south of Antelope-1 and just within PPL 237 in Gulf Province, went for 30 minutes using a 6-inch capacity choke opened to 4.375in while surface flowing tubing pressure was 1258psi.

The results indicate Antelope-2 could hold enough gas to support almost two liquefied natural gas trains, but as the owner of PNG’s only oil refinery, InterOil is more excited about the potential for oil further down.

Drilling before the test reached a depth of 2260m of the planned total depth of 2525m.

InterOil president Bill Jasper told PetroleumNews.net the remaining drilling and completion work at Antelope-2 could take at least another 60 days and he expected more condensate to come, along with oil.

At 11,200bpd of condensate, Jasper said InterOil could start production in about 24 months to generate “cash flow we never dreamed of”.

But if oil is further down, Jasper said it could be barged to InterOil’s refinery in nine months.

InterOil chief executive Phil Mulacek told PNN the presence of oil was confirmed in Antelope-1 and the company would set casing to isolate the massive gas section in Antelope-2 with the view of opening it when needed for LNG.

Once the casing is complete, InterOil will drill further down to test the expected heavy condensate and then the potential oil zone underneath.

“We are going to be testing condensate over the next three weeks,” he said. “We look to test for oil by the end of the year or the first two weeks of January.”

InterOil is bringing in a specialty crew from Houston to help undertake horizontal drilling.

“We will do a horizontal well and the objective is first to test the heavy condensate then drill horizontally into the oil leg,” Mulacek said.

Horizontal drilling was going to be used in case the 6in drill bit got into an isolated tight area, while 20m away there could be great permeability in the oil zone.

Looking at the combined resources of the Antelope reef and the Elk structure, Mulacek said the latest gas flow results meant the reservoir was bigger than 6.1 trillion cubic feet and InterOil was aiming to get 8tcf for two big trains of its LNG project.

Antelope-2 also had a larger dolomite interval than Antelope-1 and better porosity.

Further modelling of the reservoir will be done while front-end engineering and design work for a stripping facility to cash in on the condensate has begun with the help of EDG Consulting Engineers.

The proposed site is on the Purari River instead of the Elk-Antelope field and is targeting recovery of 9000bpd.

Mulacek said once the company understood the saturation levels, which was expected this month, final design could start and a final investment decision was planned for the first half of 2010.

Representatives from Mitsui attended the flow test of Antelope-2 yesterday and Mulacek said they were interested in the condensate project.

As for InterOil’s LNG plans as part of the Liquid Niugini Gas consortium, the upcoming December 8 FID for the rival ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG project takes precedence for the PNG government.

Mulacek expects the government to pursue an agreement for Liquid Niugini, targeting cargoes in 2015, soon after the FID for PNG LNG.

Liquid Niugini is 52.5% owned by InterOil and 47.5% held by Pacific LNG, with the project aiming to build a 6-9 million tonne per annum LNG plant adjacent to InterOil’s oil refinery at Napa Napa.

Meanwhile, InterOil is conducting 2D seismic over a 100km area, including the Deer prospect west of Antelope-2.

The seismic is due for completion at the end of January and for processing in February.

With a cash position of $81.8 million at the end of the last quarter, InterOil has the Antelope-3 and Antelope-4 appraisal wells to drill after work is done at Antelope-2.

Antelope-3 will be 0.6 miles south of Antelope-1.

Just before the gas flow test yesterday, old hands from Weatherford, Halliburton and SGS confirmed to PNN that what they had seen in InterOil’s Elk-Antelope field, which also hosted major flows from Elk-4 last year, was beyond what they had encountered elsewhere in their decades of experience.

Jasper and Mulacek presented the Guinness Book of World Records certificate for Antelope-1 to Gulf Province Governor Havilla Kavo yesterday.

The certification was sought to counter scepticism of the well’s results.

From "TIME MAGAZINE" last week- China in Papua New Guinea

From John Fowke

If  Papua New Guineans are killed and injured by Government forces trying to control any riot which entuates at New Year we will see the beginning of a real, meaningful fight for independence in PNG.And it may become a short-lived civil war.There is great danger here.Is the country's government prepared?

John

 

The World of China Inc.
By Hannah Beech / Ramu Monday, Dec. 07, 2009
Kemal Jufri / Imaji for TIME
Lunch at the site of the future Ramu nickel and cobalt mine in the remote hills of Papua New Guinea is a hurried affair, food shoveled into eager
mouths. But the menu is as divided as the two distinct groups of workers squatting in the heat, swatting away flies and filling their bellies before
their nine-hour, seven-day-a-week shifts begin again. In one huddle are local laborers chewing chunks of sweet potato and the canned fish known in pidgin dialect as tinpis. In another clump are imported workers from China who dig into rice topped with pork belly and chili - black bean sauce. The Chinese, who were shipped in by the state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp. that has invested $1.4 billion into this faraway outpost, can understand neither English nor pidgin, two of the national languages. The Papua New Guineans speak no Mandarin. Even at mealtime, an event during which both cultures would normally encourage community and hospitality, the air is weighted by mutual incomprehension. "How can we eat together if everything about us is different?" asks Shen Jilei, whose first overseas experience transferred him directly from China's Sichuan province to a South Pacific nation he hadn't even known existed.

Notes of culture clash ring everywhere I wander in the vast construction zones that by the end of this year will turn a pristine stretch of virgin
forest and grassland into one of the world's largest nickel-extraction sites. On the palm-fringed coast of Basamuk Bay, where the Ramu refinery
will be situated, a chatty Beijing-born building engineer tells me that before the Chinese arrived, "the natives were completely uncivilized and
running around almost naked." I voice my doubts, telling him that I've just talked to a nearby villager who described a PowerPoint presentation she recently made detailing environmental concerns about the mine. The engineer, like many other Chinese I meet, remains unimpressed. "All they do is chew betel nut and act lazy," he says. "They don't know how to work hard like we Chinese do." (See pictures of Chinese investment in Africa.) The impression the Chinese have left on many P.N.G. nationals isn't much better. A local landowner whose ancestral territory lies in the middle of the mine site alleges, improbably, that the nickel will be used to feed a secret Chinese weapons program. In the capital Port Moresby, my driver announces that if a gang to evict Chinese from P.N.G. is formed, he will be the first to join. "I will sharpen my bush knife and chop 10 or 20 heads," he says. The unease about Chinese influence extends to government circles, even if the Ramu mine promises to add 8 percentage points to the country's GDP. "I know the Chinese are going out everywhere in the world and investing successfully," says Rona Nadile, an assistant secretary of labor and industrial relations. "But what I don't understand is why are they are so stubborn to not respect our local culture. We are a democracy. They have to play by our rules or we will rise up."
Mixed Blessings
When China began its global investment push in the early part of this century, the flood of new money was welcomed, particularly in those parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America that felt abandoned by the West. China's promise not to politicize aid and investment by attaching pesky conditions like improved human rights pleased many governments. Between 2003 and 2008, Chinese direct investment overseas skyrocketed - rising from $75 million to $5.5 billion in Africa, 1 billion to $3.7 billion in Latin America and jumping from $1.5 billion to $43.5 billion in Asia. The People's Republic now ranks as the No. 1 foreign investor in countries as diverse as Sudan and Cambodia. In exchange for the natural resources needed to feed China's economic engine, Beijing began an assiduous campaign to win foreign hearts and minds by financing stadiums, hospitals and lavish government offices. The Foreign Ministry in East Timor was built courtesy of the Chinese, while Guinea-Bissau's marble-accented parliament building was a gift from Beijing.

Some countries, however, are no longer as willing to extend a red carpet toward the globetrotting Chinese. Although political strings might not come with Beijing's cash, there are economic catches. The roads, mines and other infrastructure on offer are most often built by armies of imported Chinese labor, cutting down on the net financial benefit to recipient nations. Chinese companies investing abroad also tend to ship in nearly everything used on building sites, from packs of dehydrated noodles to the telltale pink-hued Chinese toilet paper. It's not only the contracted Chinese workers who show up, either. Within a few years, their relatives invariably seem to materialize to set up shops selling cheap Chinese goods that threaten the livelihood of indigenous entrepreneurs. Locals who do get work on Chinese-funded projects complain that their bosses don't heed national labor laws ensuring minimum wage or trade-union protection. Over the past three years, anti-Chinese riots have erupted everywhere from the Solomon Islands and Zambia to Tonga and Lesotho. Tensions are also simmering in India, where the Chinese are involved in several major infrastructure projects. Even high-level officials are speaking up. In Vietnam, plans for a $140 million Chinese-operated open-pit bauxite mine were publicly excoriated by none other than revolutionary hero General Vo Nguyen Giap because, he said, of "the serious risk to the natural and social environment."
An Island Apart
Nestled in one of the most backward parts of one of the world's least developed nations, the Ramu mine has emerged as an acute example of
resentment against China Inc. In 2004 P.N.G. Prime Minister Michael Somare returned home from Beijing, triumphant at having snared the country's largest foreign-investment project to date. The euphoria was short-lived. Landowners brandished slingshots and announced they wouldn't sign off on their tribal territory being used for mineral extraction, no matter what document was signed in China's Great Hall of the People. Environmentalists cried foul over plans to deposit mine waste in the sparkling Basamuk Bay, while local workers protested conditions that even P.N.G.'s Minister for Labor and Industrial Relations David Tibu described as slavelike and "not fit for pigs or dogs." Skirmishes repeatedly broke out between villagers and the 1,500-plus imported Chinese laborers, some of whom were working illegally in P.N.G. At the same time, anger has boiled over because of an influx of thousands of Chinese who over the past couple of years have monopolized businesses that by law should be reserved for P.N.G. nationals. In May, anti-Chinese riots convulsed cities nationwide, and several people were killed amid the looting of Chinese-owned shops. "Our timber, our minerals, everything, goes to China," says Damien Ase, founder of the nonprofit Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights in Port Moresby. "But we get so little in return."
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1943087,00.html#ixzz0YUVQXK6m   

Burns Philp building to be rebuilt

Captions: 1. Artist’s impression of Burns Philip with an additional third storey with balcony 2: The Bell Tower to be incorporated into the reconstruction 3: Tribal Den Hotel - to be renamed Jeffery Haus 4: Tribal Den Hotel concrete shell to be incorporated in the new design

 

 Mid this year, the historic Burns Philp building in Port Moresby  along with the Tribal Den was destroyed by fire.

Nasfund made a commitment that the Tower would be saved.

Now a few months later, the board has committed to rebuild Burns Philp with an addition third story and balcony.

“Tradition, history and continuity are all factors in the decision to protect the Bell Tower and rebuild an important historical landmark,” says joint CEO Rod Mitchell.

“The building will comprise three levels of commercial spanning 2,500 sq m of space, with commanding views over Fairfax Harbour.

“The construction will be done by Hornibrooks NGI Limited, a company 21% owned by Nasfund.

“Construction is expected to be completed by December 2010.”

Mr Mitchell said the Tribal Den Hotel would over the next 12 months be transformed into 2,000 sq m of commercial space on three levels of approximately 650 sq m per floor.

“Renamed in recognition as Nasfund’s longest-serving chairman John Jefferey, as well as a distinguished professional life on numerous high profile boards including over 10 years as president of the Employers Federation (PNG), the building will along with Burns Philp Haus, rejuvenate a long neglected stretch of Champion Parade.

“The construction will be unique for Papua New Guinea, with a face painting of a traditional Mekeo face painting and head dress by artist Daniel Waswas embedded in the glass.

“It is intended to block pave the pedestrian path, shift electricity poles and replant trees along this part of Champion parade, restoring it to pre eminence.

“The construction will be done by Hornibrooks NGI Limited, a company 21% owned by Nasfund.

“Construction is expected to be completed by December 2010.”

Nasfund Archipelago takes shape

Captions: 1. Map of Nasfund Archipelago 2.  Artist’s impression of Harbour City

Nasfund’s bold commitment three years ago to shift the city focus to the water and to Harbour City is moving closer to reality with the announcement of 65 apartments to be constructed, starting March 2010.

Nasfund will own 60% of this venture.

The additional 65 apartments combined with the 20 apartments (Sol Wara) already under construction plus 9,000 sq m of office space signals a new concept for Port Moresby – living and working by the water.

“This major on-going project was the product of a well-considered plan to shift the Town towards the sea and capitalise on Fairfax Harbour,” according to Nasfund joint CEO Rod Mitchell.

“Similarly Harbour City and the surrounding precinct of Konedobu were ideal for development being two kilometers from the GPO and linked to the Poreporena freeway.

“Easy access without the congestion of town made this location extremely desirable.

“It also meant that the Town could be split with a new ‘City’ – totally without the constraints the ‘Old City’ had shackled itself to, including poor traffic flows and ‘hotch potch’ architecture.

“This however will soon change as Nasfund develops a commercial plan for the Burns Philp site and in doing so revitalise a significant part of the town centre.

“Across in Konedobu, with the soon to be completed IPA House covering 2,700 sq m and ‘the Factory’ – a seven pod commercial development covering 6,200 sq m, the Archipelago project will draw to a close as we begin plans for a further commercial splash in late 2010.”

 

China, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.

 From John Fowke

The Quiet Revolution-Maybe the Aussies know what they are doing….but where does PNG stand in this scenario of the present and near future?

Part of a report entitled "The Quiet Revolution" published in 2005 by respected Australian journalist and commentator Tom Dusevic  speculates upon Australia's developing relationship with China.

 "The Chinese are renowned for taking the long view. Australians, generally more easy-going, look ahead about as far as the weekend. To gauge where the relationship between the two countries is heading, you need a time frame that sits somewhere between several days and a couple of centuries: let's say 20 years.

"The Chinese have been part of the Australian story since the early days of settlement. I expect China to be of ever growing importance to Australia," says Foreign Minister Alexander Downer -( n.b.-in 2005)- "In the next 15 or 20 years it has the potential to become our biggest trading partner, for sure.

"A highly placed but unnamed Australian observer is prepared to look even further ahead in Dusevic's report.."In 25 to 30 years, Australia will be to China much as Hong Kong once was," says the government official, who has been dealing with China for two decades.

"There will be 5 to 10 million tourists coming here from the mainland each year. Our universities will be dependent on Chinese students. Large amounts of prime real estate in the major cities will be owned by Chinese investors. I see very large parts of the farming and mining sectors in Chinese hands. How else can a country of 20 million people survive and prosper in this part of the world, with a rising China?"

Dusevic continued, inter alia;"....from the standpoint of 2005, that scenario seems overwhelming. Some might say it's unrealistic, a straight-line projection that ignores the risk of unforeseeable events or friction in the relationship. How easy is it, after all, to predict the behavior of an authoritarian regime that leads 1.3 billion people? But for governments and the forward scouts of free enterprise, such future-gazing is vital. To a medium-sized country like Australia, China's economic and political rise seems irresistible. The two countries have been been growing closer for some three decades, since Australia gave diplomatic recognition to the communist People's Republic in 1972. China's growth and reform have continued with barely a blip since 1978. But trade and the movement of people go back a lot further, as Fu Ying, China's Ambassador to Australia, notes-( n.b. -in 2005)- "The history, habits and nature of our peoples have laid the foundations for the extension of relations," she says. "We are able to understand each other."

…………".In the 1840s, thousands of Chinese indentured laborers and free settlers were drawn to a thriving British colony which was to become Australia. Today, 430,000 people, including merchant bankers, students, artists, gamblers and tourists, move between Australia and China each year. If Hong Kong is included, the figure almost doubles. China's rise is easing Australia's isolation, putting it close to one of the hubs of the world economy. But it is also taking a toll….."

If Australia, a prosperous, modern industrialized nation-state of something over 20 million people is to become a subserviant, even if politically independant, client of China, equivalent to today's Hong Kong, what will be PNG's fate in the next two to three decades?What plans does PNG's leadership have for this aspect of the nation's future? Have they any plan at all?

 

University of Goroka supports World AIDS Day Celebrations

 

On Tuesday 1^st December 2009, a team from the University of Goroka staff helped to support World AIDS Day celebrations in Goroka Eastern Highlands Province.

In a show of continued support for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention at UOG, a team of staff members participated in a float around town and out along the Highlands Highway to Five-Mile with partners from Goroka Base Hospital, Provincial Health, Highland Regional Nursing College, Save the Children, Institute of Medical Research and other NGOs.

UOG staff gave out pamphlets and condoms to the public along the way, whilst sending out messages about HIV/AIDS prevention via a loud hailer from the back of a university vehicle decorated with awareness posters and a large red ribbon.

Staff members of UOG unable to participate in the float wore red or HIV/AIDS ribbons on the day to show their support for HIV/AIDS awareness. 

A banner was also hung outside the Administration block with the message: Stigma Kills, Love Heals. 

Vice Chancellor of the University of Goroka, Dr Gairo Onagi, stated that he was happy to support the participation of his staff in World AIDS Day celebrations in the community as UOG currently teaches a compulsory course on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention to its students.

The participation of staff for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness was coordinated by Mrs Alice Kauba, senior tutor from the Health Section of the Science Faculty, and was held as a follow on from early celebrations of World AIDS Day celebrated on campus on the 9^th November 2009 by UOG health students.

 

Sinopec and PNG LNG finalise LNG sale and purchase agreement

Important Project Milestone with Key Asian LNG buyer

LNG to Supply Sinopec’s First LNG terminal in Shandong Province

 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, December 3, 2009 – Unipec Asia Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and Esso Highlands Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation and operator of the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) Project, today announced that Sinopec and the project participants have entered into a binding sales and purchase agreement for the long-term sale and purchase of LNG totalling approximately 2.0 million tonnes per annum.

Under the agreement, the PNG LNG Project will supply LNG to Sinopec’s LNG terminal in Shandong Province, for a period of 20 years.  

“We are pleased that the project has completed this important agreement with a key Asian LNG customer and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship between Sinopec and the project,” said Ron Billings, vice president, LNG, ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing Company. “This is a key milestone in the project’s schedule.”

"Sinopec is very pleased to reach the final sales and purchase agreement with the PNG LNG Project. The LNG we've committed will supply an LNG terminal that Sinopec is going to build in Qingdao, Shandong Province. Phase I capacity of the terminal is 3 million tons per annum. With the developments of the market, we will expand the facilities to receive 5-6 million tons per year in a Phase II stage. This LNG terminal will provide long-term and reliable clean natural gas resources to the Shandong market and will play a positive role in meeting the local demand, optimizing the energy mix and improving the local environment,” said Wang Zhigang, senior vice president of Sinopec Corp.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ("Sinopec Corp.") is listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai, and it's also a fully integrated energy and chemical company. Its main businesses include exploration, development, production and trading of petroleum and natural gas; petroleum processing, manufacturing, trading, transportation, distribution and marketing of petroleum products; manufacturing, distribution and trading of petrochemical products. Sinopec is the largest domestic listed company based on its annual revenues in 2008, and it's also one of the major petroleum and petrochemical companies in China and Asia as well as one of the major producers and distributors of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other major petrochemical products in China and Asia.

The PNG LNG Project is an integrated development which includes gas production and processing facilities, onshore pipelines and offshore pipelines and LNG plant facilities. Participating interests are ExxonMobil (through various affiliates, including Esso Highlands Limited as Operator) 41.5%, Oil Search 34.0%, Santos 17.7%, Nippon Oil 5.4%, Mineral Resources Development Company 1.2 %, and Petromin PNG Holdings Limited 0.2%. 

(Participation will change when the PNG State nominees join as equity participants at a later date).

Sinopec Media Contact: Wang Tao Phone: (86 10) 59969809 Email: wtao@sinopec.com  

Media Contact: Miles Shaw Phone: (675) 322-2133 Email: miles.j.shaw@exxonmobil.com  

 

Partners in supporting Papua New Guinea tourism

Caption: Barry Greville-Eyres (left) and senior PNG Tourism Promotion Authority staff Alcinda Trawen and Jerry Agus show some of the tourism publications and reference material donated by Co-op Bookshop in Brisbane

A Brisbane-based bookstore and a tourism development practitioner have made a valuable donation of tourism publications and reference material to the Tourism Promotion Authority.

The Co-op Bookshop and tourism development practitioner Barry Greville-Eyres handed over the publications to TPA’s policy and planning manager Jerry Agus.

 “The authority values strategic partner contributions especially at a time when TPA is implementing its tourism master plan,” Mr Agus said.

“TPA envisages that the master plan will be translated into a series of sustainable tourism development initiatives, generating local economic empowerment and prosperity for PNG’s rural and urban communities alike.”

 This also happens to coincide with an anticipated bumper festive season which could see an influx of international visitors despite the recent global financial crisis.

University of Queensland’s Prof Roy Ballantyne confirmed that UQ’s school of tourism had recently entered into dialogue with TPA on how both organisations can collaborate towards their mutual benefit.

 “As neighbours – sharing unique yet complimentary tourism products and experiences, it makes strategic sense exploring joint tourism opportunities - research, teaching, learning, marketing and development - as part of an innovative and exciting country to country or regional tourism initiative,” Prof Ballantyne said.

Jobs for Filipinos at Papua New Guinea LNG project

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ    

 

IN 1974 and in the years that followed, Philippine Airlines and Qantas chartered flights brought to Port Moresby several hundreds of Filipino professionals and highly-skilled workers.

They were recruited by the colonial government of Australia the previous year after it determined that the growing economy of Papua New Guinea needed better skills and expertise to help sustain the needs of the local industries and to run the various units in the national government.

To prepare the country for eventual independence from Australia that was to take place on September 16, 1975, the administration launched a massive recruitment exercise targeting Filipino workers.

They were chosen over other Asian nationals for their English proficiency and inherent patience and ability to adapt to the local culture.

The first batch was made of 136 professionals, technicians, teachers, professors, architects, surveyors, fishery experts and agriculturists who set foot on PNG on May 10, 1974. 

They were either posted in various government units along with their white counterparts or taught elementary and vocational courses to the youths across the country.

Lacking in expertise and skills and the needed manpower to operate the various sectors of its infant business, trade, commerce and various other industries, and to streamline the functioning of government bureaucracies, PNG looked to the Philippines for manpower help.

Having done this, the nation was not disappointed. And it wanted more of them to come and help build the economy.

Most of the professional Filipinos excelled in their line of expertise; a number made their name in banking, commerce and industry; others became the spawn from which learning sprouted like mushrooms among the youths in various levels of education.

With PNG becoming their second home, most of the Pinoys stayed put till past retirement.

This group was considered the first-ever from an Asian country to become expatriate workers here in Papua New Guinea.

Many more Filipinos in several batches followed – this time, all recruited by the first PNG government – during the initial years of the country’s nationhood.

My father, a diesel-gasoline engine expert, came in 1977, along with a big group of new recruits that included educators, technical and highly skilled workers, agriculturists, vocational teachers, accountants, administrators and managers.

The economy was beginning to grow and there was no homegrown expertise yet available to fill up various jobs. Again, the only readily-available manpower during those days could be found in the Philippines. So, the stream of in-bound Filipinos did not stop. And they still do these days.

It was thought earlier that it would only be a temporary affair, a stopgap measure to fill an urgent need. But the proponents of Philippine hiring were dead wrong. And outsourcing from this country has become a convenient and fortunate habit.

When PNG’s pioneering oil refinery at Napa-Napa just outside Port Moresby finally took off a few years ago, it had, and it has until now, many of Filipinos working in its various sectors – many of them pirated en masse from two to three rival oil refineries back in the Philippines.

The Napa-Napa refinery had no other place from which to outsource manpower but Manila. It had no option. Without them, operations could not start. Oil refining, a process that gives added value to crude oil, is a new thing in the country, and therefore, the needed local manpower has remained nonexistent.

With PNG’s massive resource development project like the liquefied natural gas (LNG) now on the horizon, the likelihood of another “Filipino invasion” is becoming imminent

Already, the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, has been in talks with at least three big job recruitment companies based in Port Moresby to facilitate the hiring of Filipinos and their deployment in the LNG project. And she’s also urging them to hire more Filipinos for the project.

One of them, the JDA Wokman of Port Moresby, has already requested the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby to help it outsource expatriate workers through the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA), a government agency charged with the deployment of Filipinos for overseas jobs, and certain Manila-based private recruitment companies.

JDA Wokman business development manager Peter Garnsey told this writer that the Filipinos are an “attractive option” for deployment.

“They could make up the bulk of the more than 10,000 expatriate workers projected to be required by the project during its 30-yar lifespan,” he said.

However, Mr Garnsey would not be able to know the exact number of workers to hire from Manila until ExxonMobil and the project contractors have determined the actual manpower needs.

“But we are looking at a few thousands from the Philippines alone for deployment during the entire life of the project,” Mr Garnsey said.

In a formal letter to Madam Ho-Vicario, Mr Garnsey enumerated “reasons we believe the Filipino workers will be the desired expatriate workforce for the PNG LNG project:

1.    Superior English language skills

2.    They interface well with PNG Nationals;

3.    Filipino Workers are considered to have good work ethics;

4.    The skills/training of Filipino workers is considered to be superior; and

5.    Ease of travel between PNG and the Philippines”

The two other recruitment companies are also looking to the Philippines for professionals and highly-skilled technical workers numbering a few thousands -- a ballpark figure that was mentioned during their initial talks with the Philippine Ambassador.

Full-blast hiring of engineers of various specializations, specialized mechanics, pipe layers, feeders, heavy equipment operators, fabrication specialists, accountants, administrative staff and many more could begin in April next year.

The ExxonMobil LNG project is expected to operate for at least 30 years.

It is feared that this projected “invasion” of Filipino workers and those from other Asian countries might cause “paper fatigue” at the PNG Labor Department and Immigration Department, which are right now bogged down by manpower lack.

A tsunami of applications for work permits and working visas could come crashing onto their respective counters. Not to mention those requests for working documents from the other sectors of the industry such as the nickel/cobalt and the tuna processing zone projects in Madang province. Their combined manpower requirement from overseas could go beyond 20,000.

Orly Alvarez, one of the Pinoy expatriates who came to Port Moresby in 1974 with the first batch, told this writer recently: “I’m not surprised if the LNG project would outsource from the Philippines … LNG is a new thing here in PNG and there are no local workers to do the job.

“It’s actually a repeat of what happened in 1974 when the first batch of Filipinos came here because there was nobody to do the job for the Government …” says Alvarez, who was then a 29-year-old mechanical engineer. Currently, he is the Transport Director at the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.

“It can’t be helped,” says Commerce and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris of the hiring plan.

He told me in one of our recent chats: “Ever since, we’ve been reliant on the Filipinos to do some vital jobs for us … it has become a habit, an easy way out to meet manpower needs … but the Government is now trying to do something to correct this.”

Was it lack of foresight on the part of successive governments?

Until today, it has miserably failed to train local workforce to man the nation’s resources development program such as the LNG, which is now on its fast-track phase, with the second one coming up.

Not to mention the upcoming tuna processing zone known as the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang province, which is expected to outsource more than 20,000 highly-skilled Asian workers – expectedly several of them Filipinos -- to man the operations of at least seven tuna canning plants along with local workforce.

For years, the PNG government has been crowing about the nation’s rich gas and oil resources and its plan to have them fully developed, and thus become a big dollar earner for the economy. But it never included in its agenda the training of home-grown workforce to man the industry.

Is the PNG Government conveniently relegating this responsibility to countries like the Philippines?

Out of desperate necessity, the Philippine government has established a systematic technical education and skills and development program in which hundreds of new proficient workers are produced every six months in regional centers.

They are not for local employment as there are no jobs available. This is because the country’s various industries have failed to generate enough jobs to cater to excess manpower, maybe because of not-so-good economic climate.

Since there is an abundance of qualified workers but not enough jobs for all of them, the only option is to bring the expertise overseas where good paying jobs are available, particularly in the Middle East, Canada, Europe, Asia, America and PNG, which is now the new Mecca for Filipino workers.

At any given time, there are at least 10 million Filipinos overseas, who last year, sent home US$16.43 billion – an amount that handily shored up the Philippine economy. During the first nine months of this year, OFWs sent a total of US$12.83 billion, up 4.2% from the same period last year.

The Philippine government has succeeded in keeping them perennially overseas by failing to encourage the country’s business and industry to create enough jobs for them back home.

That’s why the reliance on its millions of OFWs for national survival has become the Arroyo government’s major economic strategy, and called OFWs “national heroes”.

Early this year, Madam Ho-Vicario told Prime Minister Michael Somare about the Philippines’ skills development scheme which is run by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), a government-sponsored program.

When Sir Michael visited the Philippines last May, he and the Ambassador toured TESDA facilities at its Metro Manila headquarters in Taguig City. Impressed by the way the skills training scheme is being carried out through the use of latest facilities, the Prime Minister vowed to have it replicated here in PNG.

Likewise, Mr Garnsey went to Manila last September to establish a tie-up with local recruitment agencies and to see for himself how TESDA develops new skilled workers and how it validates skill proficiencies that would meet the needs of the PNG LNG project.

Seeing how things were done at TESDA, he was convinced he came to the right place.

ExxonMobil, the mother company of the PNG LNG operator Esso Highlands, intends to carry out its own skills training program for qualified locals. This is a part of its national content development to cater to various jobs that would be offered to Papua New Guinean workforce.

But the magnitude of the manpower requirement at the gas fields, at the head office and at the processing plants is just too staggering to imagine that whatever skilled workforce ExxonMobil could produce would not be enough. In fact, it could only be a drop in the bucket.

For one thing, the LNG project owners cannot jeopardize its operational timetable by not having the necessary workforce in place to man every unit of the facility. And it cannot wait for such home-grown manpower to be developed and honed until it is up to industry standards.

They have commitments to deliver billion dollars worth of LNG to its various clients overseas – Japan and China, being the biggest buyers -- at a specific time. And the bottom line to fulfilling these commitments boils down to one basic element: manpower to support the entire production system with efficiency and precession.

That’s why the gas project has tapped the three big recruitment agencies in Port Moresby for its manpower needs. And these agents are almost certain most of those workers will come from the Philippines.

Barring unforeseen events, there’s no reason why this could not happen.

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg   

alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg  

To see the original web posting, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=954:jobs-for-filipinos-at-png-lng-project&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117

 

Top 10 Tiger Jokes

One:
Apparently, the only person who can beat Tiger Woods with a golf club is his wife
Two:
What's the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards
Three:
Tiger Woods was injured in a car accident as he pulled out of his driveway early Friday morning.  It was Woods' shortest drive since an errant tee shot at the US Open.
Four:
What was Tiger Woods doing out at 2.30 in the morning? He'd gone clubbing
Five:
Tiger Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree. He couldn't decide between a wood and an iron
Six:
Perhaps Tiger should be using a driver?
Seven:
This is the first time Tiger's ever failed to drive 300 yards
Eight:
Apparently, Tiger admitted this crash was the closest shave he's ever had. So Gillette has dropped his contract.
Nine:
Tiger Woods wasn't seriously injured in the crash. He's still below par though
Ten:
Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole in one.

The magic of Kavieng

WONDERFUL Kavieng, New Ireland province, remains, arguably, the most-beautiful town in Papua New Guinea.

The feature of the place, and the entire New Ireland for that matter, are the scenic and unspoiled beaches.

Last Friday, we visited beautiful Nago Island, where an innovative and exciting development is taking.

The National Fisheries Authority is building a new research facility on Nago together with housing for its staff and researchers, as well as other associated facilities, at an estimated cost of K5-K6 million.

Nusa Island Retreat, with the green lights of the NFA, is building a tourism facility, given that Nago has some of the best surfing, fishing and unspoilt white, sandy beaches in Papua New Guinea.

Kavieng is situated at the northern tip of New Ireland.

It has often been described as the typical “Somerset Maugham South Sea island port”.

It has a large, beautiful harbour and is a popular destination for sports fishing enthusiasts and cruising yachts.

Along the edge of the harbour is Nusa Parade, a gently curving road, shaded by huge trees, which passes many points of historical interest, the main market, the port, fisheries and the hospital.

Nusa Island Retreat, only a short two-minute boat ride across the harbour, has an excellent bar and restaurant set right on the beach complete with sand floor and tables made from coconut trees.

More and more tourists are visiting this part of paradise and you can also find out why with a visit there.

I especially loved the scenic and unspoiled beachfront, market and the long and winding Boluminski Highway.

Kavieng market is one place where you can find the tastiest sea food and freshest vegetables.

It is situated on the foreshore and is a central hub of activity most days of the week, except Sundays.

There is a fantastic variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables, fresh and smoked fish, live mud crabs, baskets of sunga and kina shells, and of course plenty of buai.

Also found in large quantities are huge trays of tapioca slice made with coconut milk, sago slice, donuts, rice balls and other local delicacies.

Although generally a produce market, you will also find woven baskets, locally printed laplaps, and handmade bilums available for sale.

In addition to the market, there are a variety of kai bars in Kavieng where you can pick up a cheap local-style feed.

The highway is named after German administrator, Franz Boluminski, who landed at Kavieng on June 30, 1900, with his wife Frida.

He supervised the task of building a road, and in less than four years, 100km was built using karanas (dead coral) that is in plentiful supply.

Boluminiski gained widespread respect for establishing peace on New Ireland; however, it is for the highway that his name lives on.

His tough but fair dealings with natives and whites alike in New Ireland were frequently referred to by visiting Germans as “the South Sea Pearl of German colonial possessions”.

Boluminski had built a fine residence on a ridge with a grand staircase descending to the harbour with extensive gardens.

A post office was established in 1904 and overseas vessels were visiting Kavieng by 1912.

He died on April 28, 1913, and is buried at Bagail cemetery in Kavieng.

At the time of Boluminski’s death, a fine road capable of being used by the new motor vehicles just arriving stretched 165km from Kavieng carrying produce to port and facilitating the administration by strategically-located government rest houses.

It was the longest and best road in the Pacific until the 1950’s.

Of course, you can’t say anything about Kavieng and New Ireland province without mentioning the Chinese, who were brought to Kokopo and then Kavieng in the late 1800’s, inter-married with the local women, and their legacy lives on to this day.

Kavieng is a sleepy little town with a golf course, a range of restaurants, bars and facilities, including banks, supply stores, bakeries and supermarkets.

Places to stay include, hotel, guest house and resort style accommodation, while easy going traditional style bungalows are situated among the islands just offshore.

Visitors should not expect to come to Kavieng to experience an abundance of cafes or restaurants, shopping strips and nightclubs, as they will be very disappointed.

The Kavieng Hotel has a bar, complete with pool table and satellite TV, and a garden setting restaurant which is open every day of the week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Kavieng Hotel, however, is famous for its Friday Night Seafood Buffet with what seems like an unlimited amount of mud crabs and crayfish, as well as plenty of fish and other seafood, salads and vegetable dishes.

The Kavieng Club has a large bar and a billiard room, and is a relaxing place for a drink after a game of golf on their nine-hole golf course or a quick snack for lunch or dinner.

The Malagan Beach Resort is perfectly situated on the beachfront, and its outside pool decking area is an excellent place to watch the sun set whilst enjoying a drink from their bar.

Its restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and extends outside to a shaded patio area on the beach.

Sunday night is BBQ Night at the Malagan.

Nusa Island Retreat, only a short two-minute boat ride across the harbour, has an excellent bar and restaurant set right on the beach complete with sand floor and tables made from coconut trees.

The bar has a great selection of local and imported spirits, an excellent wine list, and an extensive cocktail list.

Nusa’s restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch with a good selection to choose from off their menu, with buffet dinners available every night of the week, specialising in the area’s fresh seafood and vegetables.

The strength of a woman

Caption: Marilyn Apa (third from left) with VIPS and graduating students  at National Fisheries College in Kavieng last Friday

 

By UNRE Public Relations

 ROBED professionally in her black academic gown the woman sat quietly watching as the students walked up to the podium one by one.

Tears filled her eyes and rolled slowly down her cheeks as each one was congratulated by University Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu before he handed them their scrolls.

As they walked down the stairs with the scrolls firmly wrapped in their hands, the pride on each of their faces was evident.

They had done it!

Completed their course in flying colours!

The same pride that they felt shone in the woman's eyes.

It was her day as much as theirs.

This was the final chapter of a journey they had started together through uncharted waters – she and them.

 The scene before her evoked mixed emotions - intense maternal pride and a sense of sadness because she knew her protégés would now be leaving her.

After muolding and guiding the 16 diploma and five degree Fisheries and Marine Resources (FMR) graduates of the University of Natural Resource & Environment (UNRE) for several years, the graduation ceremony was a milestone achievement for Marilyn Apa.

Despite many challenges, she had worked tirelessly with a firm and committed determination to see them and the program succeed.

Ms Apa is the pioneer coordinator of the FMR program which was introduced in 2006.

 Its seven pioneer diplomats graduated last year and the graduation of the five pioneer degree students last Friday in Kavieng marked its first full cycle.

She loves the ocean and its abundant and diverse marine life, but this love is a passion she developed with the FMR programme.

Not surprising when you realise she comes from Western Highlands, a province situated several hundred kilometers away from the sea.  

An agriculturalist by profession, the challenge of switching to a new field let alone head a completely new programme for the University was daunting for Ms Apa.

She had to dig deep within herself to find the courage to move away from the familiar surroundings of UNRE's main campus in East New Britain to Kavieng in New Ireland, a town she had never even given much thought to before then.

While the challenges and difficulties faced with coordinating a new programme were many, her quiet determination and commitment has contributed to the success of the programme.

According to Ms Apa, the concept in natural resources is the same and can be applied in agriculture, fisheries or forestry.

She said in the FMR programme students learn everything about fisheries and marine resources from commercial fishing operations to post-harvest.

They also learn aquaculture, inland fishery management and research.

"They can fish, handle the fish, navigate boats and sustainably manage fisheries.

"They know the science of fisheries, statistics and monitoring, fisheries business and marketing as well as computing and how to write up project proposals," she continued.

"These students are the best prepared graduates professionally, because their current employers have expressed satisfaction with their job performances."

With the FMR programme completing its first full cycle, as much as she loves the sea, Ms Apa feels that it is now time she returns to the blue ranges of the Bainings.

She believes the two fisheries lecturers that were recruited to assist her, Aisi Anas and Rachel James, are capable of carrying on if she leaves.

Ms Apa is grateful, however, that she had the privilege of being part of the history of the FMR program but more importantly of having the chance to interact with the young minds that have enriched her life as much as she theirs.

When you thought I wasn't looking...

A message every adult should read because children are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.
When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of your time and money to help people who had nothing, and I learned that those who have something should give to those who don't.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's all right to cry.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and wanted to say, 'Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.'

Unforgettable Kavieng, New Ireland province

Captions: 1: Visitors preparing to travel to Nago Island off Kavieng last Friday. 2: Children swimming in the sea in Kavieng, near the market, surrounded by a phalanx of dinghies

 

WONDERFUL Kavieng, New Ireland province, remains arguably the most-beautiful town in Papua New Guinea.

The feature of the place, and the enter New Ireland for that matter, are the scenic and unspoiled beaches.

Kavieng is situated at the northern tip of New Ireland.

It has often been described as the typical “Somerset Maugham South Sea island port”.

It has a large, beautiful harbour and is a popular destination for sports fishing enthusiasts and cruising yachts.

Along the edge of the harbour is Nusa Parade, a gently curving road, shaded by huge trees, which passes many points of historical interest, the main market, the port, fisheries and the hospital.

Nusa Island Retreat, only a short two-minute boat ride across the harbour, has an excellent bar and restaurant set right on the beach complete with sand floor and tables made from coconut trees.

More and more tourists are visiting this part of paradise and you can also find out why with a visit there.

Papua New Guinea a world leader in fisheries

Captions: 1: NFA Managing Director Mr Sylvester Pokajam. 2: ftv Leilani, a boat owned by the National Fisheries College in Kavieng, which takes students out to sea for training.

Papua New Guinea is the leading fisheries nation of the Pacific and a dominant force in regional tuna fisheries management and development, according to National Fisheries Authority managing director Sylvester Pokajam.

Mr Pokajam made this assertion in Kavieng last Friday during the graduation of the first-ever fisheries and marine resources degree students from the University of Natural Resources and Environment.

The graduation took place at the National Fisheries College in Kavieng.

“Although this has yet to be adequately measured, I am proud to advise you all that, in the opinion of many, Papua New Guinea is the leading fisheries nation of the Pacific and a dominant force in regional tuna fisheries management and development,” Mr Pokajam said,

“I believe our commitment to skill and capacity building though the effective operation of the National Fisheries College is a significant contributing factor in placing PNG in this leading position.

“As you all know, the National Fisheries Authority is a statutory authority charged with the challenging task of managing and developing the marine resource of PNG for the sustainable benefit of all.

“We are the only fisheries agency in the region that has a fisheries college as one of its operational divisions.

“This makes us unique in region but it also provides us with a significant challenge to gain a cost benefit from our investment in education and training.”

Mr Pokajam said for the past 10years, NFA had delivered 100% subsidised training to the fisheries sector of PNG in small fishing operations and commercial fisheries.

“Every year our budget had increased and this year for the first time, we introduced a 20% cost recovery component to all our courses,” he said.

“This is a good start but what we really need to see is real benefits coming from the training we deliver in terms of productivity and employment.”

Mr Pokajam commended members of the graduating fisheries observe class who have completed a course of study as Pacific Island regional fisheries observers.

“Through the commitment of our fisheries observer programme and the National Fisheries College, and the support of the Forum Fisheries Agency and the Secretariat for the Pacific Community, Papua New Guinea has led the region in fisheries observer training section within the College,” he said.

“We are now the only institution in the region to be endorsed to deliver the new regional standard fisheries observer qualification without teaching and technical inputs from SPC and FFA.

“Our fisheries observer tutors are now the first and currently the only certified regional observer trainers.

“This is an excellent achievement for all concerned and a further indication of our leading role in regional tuna fisheries management.

“This current observer course is the first ever in which we have hosted regional students and, in support of our Pacific neighbour, all four of our 2010 courses will have reservations for Pacific regional students.”

Mr Pokajam said the commercial fisheries and post-harvest program had underpinned the college since the inception of the AusAID -funded National Fisheries College Strengthening Project.

“Again, we are the only fisheries agency in the region that is able to offer this technical training to industry,” he said.

“We have watched with increasing confidence the growing confidence and capacity of the commercial fisheries and post-harvest staff teams in NFC and I believe our technical courses in these areas are efficiently delivered and highly relevant.

“My challenge to the graduates of these courses is to return to your respective work places and apply your new-found skills and knowledge to our collective challenge of growing PNG capacity in both fishing and processing, thereby adding to the value which PNG can obtain from our fisheries resources.”