Leilani of Kavieng

Students at the National Fisheries College in Kavieng, New Ireland province, have a lot of fun while learning on college vessel, ftv Leilani, which takes them out to sea.

Principal Hugh Walton said Leilani was the only boat currently owned and operated by the NFC.

“It’s a training vessel,” he explained.

“It was built about 12-14 years ago in Australia, essentially, its main purpose being a fishing boat.

“It’s meant to trawl and also to troll, and also to longline and work pot with a line handler, as well as fish deep bottom for snapper.

“It’s a general purpose training vessel and multi-purpose vessel.”

Fisheries and marine resources degree and diploma students, basic observer, post-harvest operations and commercial fishing operations benefit from Leilani.

“For students, we use the vessel for a number of purposes such as navigation and seamanship, vessel safety and practical fishing,” Mr Walton said

“We also use Leilani as a base for training and delivery.

“We put a new engine in Leilani last year, so we gave her a new lease on life.”

Mr Walton said the NFC was about to refurbish a pole and line fishing vessel for trawl fishing.

 

China and Papua New Guinea

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

The Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere of the 20th Century seems to have been reinvented in the 21st Century with not surprisingly, the same results for those who do not share in the benefits but only in providing them.
If the bush knives are indeed being sharpened and the level of frustration is clearly rising, it is only a matter of time before the pot boils over.
What will Australia's position be if there is open rebellion? If PNG cannot control it's own people who are conducting tribal wars in the Highlands, what might happen when the Chinese in PNG are attacked? If the Chinese feel their nationals are threatened, would they be 'invited' to send troops to protects their citizens and investments? If that happened, what would Australia's position be? What if China wished to establish a permanent military presence in PNG?
I wonder what a fly on the wall might have overheard when the Chinese heir apparent met with PNG and Australian Prime Ministers recently? Of course the fly in Canberra would had to have spoken Mandarin.
See attached article from Time Magazine (on line)

___________________________________
The World of China Inc.
By Hannah Beech / Ramu Monday, Dec. 07, 2009

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.
A New Look at Old Shanghai
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

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?