InterOil posts US$17.7m profit for 2011

By MALUM NALU

InterOil yesterday (Monday) announced a net profit US$17.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, despite all the negative publicity it has been receiving in 2011 about its Gulf LNG project and its fallout with the Papua New Guinea government, The National reports.

The Gulf LNG project was expected to have liquefied and exported gas from the Elk and Antelope gas fields in the Gulf province.

Last September, however, the InterOil-proposed Gulf LNG project was dumped by cabinet on grounds that it deviated from the original project agreement.

 InterOil, in reply then, said it was still committed to delivering a world-class Gulf LNG project in compliance with the 2009 agreement with the government.

 Yesterday’s profit announcement compared with a net loss of US$44.5 million for the same period in 2010, an improvement of US$62.2 million, the company announced in a statement posted on the internet.

The operating segments of corporate, midstream refining and downstream collectively returned a net profit for the year of US $82.3 million.

The development segments of upstream and midstream liquefaction yielded a net loss of US$64.6 million.

InterOil CEO Phil Mulacek confidently said the company continued to work with its existing LNG development partners and the PNG government to advance its LNG project towards first production.

“Simultaneously, our advisors are managing the process of soliciting and evaluating proposals from potential strategic LNG partners,” Mulacek said.

“If a strategic partner is selected, we expect that such a partner would assist with accelerating the LNG project's capacity growth.

“Our delineation drilling at Triceratops has the potential to add to our substantial resource estimate at Elk and Antelope, and provide back-up supply for increasing LNG capacity.

“Our prospect inventory is maturing and we anticipate that it will support our goal of a multi-year, multi-well exploration program.

“We believe that these achievements, combined with our strong balance sheet, support our continued growth and operational success."

During the fourth quarter 2011, InterOil completed two heads of agreements (HOA) on long-term LNG supply for its proposed LNG project in PNG, bringing the total of its three HOAs to 3.3 to 3.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

Subsequent to the quarter end, on January 17, 2012, InterOil announced that the Triceratops-2 delineation well had been spudded.

Mangroves of Bootless Bay

I took these pictures of mangrove trees along Bootless Bay, just outside Port Moresby, on Saturday, March 17.

Mangroves play a crucial role in our eco-system and must be protected at all costs.

Mangrove trees at Tahira, Bootless Bay.Pictures@MALUM NALU

Mangrove trees at Tahira, Bootless Bay, against a magnificent backdrop of mountains, white clouds and blue skies

Mangrove project signboard at Tahira, Bootless Bay

A close-up of the mangrove project signboard at Tahira, Bootless Bay

Mangove nursery at Tahira, Bootless Bay

Idyllic Bootless Bay

These are are pictures of idyllic Bootless Bay, which I took while on a ride back to Tahira Boating Centre from Loloata Island Resort, on board the resort's ferry mv Tahira Cat, last Saturday, March 17.

Motupore Island as seen from mv Tahira Cat.-All pictures@Malum Nalu

The National management staff on board mv Tahira Cat

University of PNG's research centre on Motupore Island

This scenic environmental area is tainted by this logging operation

Boats at Bootless Bay

Jetty at Tahira Borating Centre, Bootless Bay

Jetty at Tahira Borating Centre, Bootless Bay

Catamaran at anchor in Bootless Bay

Day trippers to Loloata Island getting off mv Tahira Cat at Tahira Boating Centre

Old jetty at Tahira Boating Centre

Well-kept yard at Tahira Boating Centre

Inquiry: Ferry probe starts within 10 days

THE Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of passenger ferry mv Rabaul Queen is likely to get under way in the next 10 days now that its funding has been confirmed, The National reports.
 The commission, comprising Justice Warwick Andrew, a judge from New South Wales, Australia, and assisted by lawyers Mal Varitimos and Emmanuel Asigau, had been stranded since it was formed shortly after the Rabaul Queen sank on Feb 2 off Finschhafen, in Morobe province.
“Justice (Warwick) Andrew spoke to the (government’s) chief secretary (Manasupe Zurenuoc) today who confirmed that certain funding was now available and further funding would be available next week,” Varitimos told The National.
Varitimos said at a meeting last Friday, Zurenuoc had assured him that the inquiry was extremely important and funding would be available to enable the inquiry to properly function.
Varitimos and Andrew participated in the commission of inquiry into the sinking of Tonga’s passenger ferry Princess Ashika in 2009 in which 74 people died.
A total of 229 people had been listed as missing, presumed dead, from the sinking of the Rabaul Queen.
Varitimos said the commission was now seeking to confirm premises to work from and contact details for the inquiry. These were likely to be confirmed and available by March 23.
“Once confirmed, they will be published.
“As advised by the commissioner previously, it is proposed to have hearings in Port Moresby, Buka, Kokopo, Kimbe and Lae.
“However, some matters need to be attended to before the dates are set.
“It is proposed that counsel assisting will visit these locations prior to the hearings to
interview potential witnesses and give people an opportunity to provide relevant information before the formal hearings.”
He said the commission had done a lot of work since its appointment.
Zurenuoc said last week that K3 million had been found to start the inquiry and another K9 million would be made available.
A source from the commission said the inquiry was expected to begin after Sunday

Rebels set ships on fire

REBEL elements on Buka Island torched three Rabaul Shipping vessels – mv Solomon Queen, Kopra 3 and Kopra 4 – on Saturday, The National reports.
 The vessels were towed from the wharf towards Sohano Island through the Buka passage, grounded on a reef and set alight.
No lives were lost, police said, but some bags of copra aboard the vessels went up in flames.
Armed men in banana boats formed a cordon to make sure no-one tried to board the ships to put the fires out.
The vessels had been stranded at the wharf since Feb 2 after they were seized by people seeking compensation for the victims of the mv Rabaul Queen, also owned by Rabaul Shipping.
The ship sank in heavy seas off Finschhafen on Feb 2 claiming the lives of more than 200 passengers while 237 were rescued.
According to eyewitnesses, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, a number of armed men were seen arriving from Central and South Bougainville late last Friday night.
They boarded the ships and early the next morning, the three vessels were seen being towed to the outskirts of Buka passage where they were set alight.
At 10am on Saturday, people on Buka could see the ships burning outside the harbour.
Bougainville police on Buka said their officers were not equipped to confront the armed men. But they were monitoring the situation and trying to resolve the matter peacefully.
The Bougainville peace agreement bans law enforcers from using weapons.
Bougainville President John Momis condemned the actions of the men, saying the rule of law must be respected.
Rabaul Shipping, or its owner Peter Sharp, had not issued any statement.
Thick smoke was still coming from the ships yesterday.
About 10 banana boats with armed men on board could be seen from the shore guarding the burning ships.
Government officials and police were still trying to figure out what provoked the men to burn the ships.
An ex-combatant who asked not to be identified denied that the Mekamui defence force was involved in the burning which he believed could threaten the peace and stability of Bougainville.
He said the situation in Buka and Kokopau towns was tense as more than 100 armed men were moving freely across the Buka passage, selling loot, particularly fuel, from the three ships.
He said the men involved were mainly renegades operating individually and did not represent ex-combatants of Bougainville.
“The hijacking of the three ships started out as a means to get Sharp to pay compensation for the Bougainville lives lost in the Rabaul Queen tragedy,’’ he said.
“But it turned out differently when opportunists joined the cause, pretending to support our genuine interest when really they were serving their own.”
After seizing the ships, they had asked for K50,000 to “provide security”. Later, their demand increased to K350,000.
Rabaul Shipping had come back with an offer of K100,000 provided the ships were released first.
The company closed its office in Buka earlier this month and managed to evacuate the 15 crew members on board

PNG team in NRL could be a better bet

By JOSH DOWSE in Sydney Morning Herald

March 19, 2012

Opinion

Belden Namah's alleged shenanigans at the Star casino tempt the observation that $800,000 is a lot of money for a minister of an impoverished nation to have ''on account'' at our ''ask no questions'' casino.

Papua New Guinea should not be anywhere near as destitute as it has become. It has remarkable natural assets, a rich and powerful neighbour, and an already significant income that is about to double through its nation-changing natural gas project.

Yet its entrenched and indefensible corruption leaves its national coffers as good as empty. In short meetings with PNG ministers, I have witnessed that culture first hand and seen some of its effects: such as one-year-old roads that have been washed away because the selected tenderer didn't bother much with the roadbase or drainage.

Australians should give a toss about this corruption. PNG was of course an Australian protectorate until its independence in 1975, and in part its troubles are our legacy, though it is long past the time PNG politicians can avoid their responsibilities.

More important, Australia is PNG's biggest donor, and they our biggest recipient. Last year, we spent $482.3 million on PNG aid.

This funds a healthy bureaucracy in Port Moresby, an array of 4WDs and some small successes. But it doesn't go far because Port Moresby is chronically expensive to live in, cars cost more than $10,000 to insure between thefts and trashings, and little gets out to the regions where it is needed.

PNG is our nearest neighbour, yet we neglect its troubles to engage in global sorties that are more ''strategic'' for our alliances and more ''exciting'' for our policy-makers. We need to engage more deeply than via our quick self-esteeming trips up the Kokoda Track.

There is a lot that can and should be done, but I would like to wave the flag for one idea that would increase awareness of PNG's plight in Australia, shine a torch on and improve PNG's governance and, at the same time, invigorate a nation.

 Australia should use a small part of its $482 million annual aid budget to fund a PNG team in our National Rugby League. Let our teams, and the media, see Port Moresby once a fortnight and let Moresby see them.

The more there are well-governed institutions to look up to in PNG, the better. Under the NRL, a PNG-based team would join others such as NasFund, the national superannuation fund, as examples sorely needed to counterbalance the mire of PNG politics. Unlike most other PNG institutions, though, this would be one that the PNG people would care deeply about. Rugby league is their national sport, the game kids play in every park and yard, the posters they have on their walls. When an Australian team tours there, it is a national event. When one of their own pulls on an NRL jersey, a nation follows that team. Nonetheless, the PNG Rugby League is a transient body that last went broke in 2004. It gets some help from the NRL but not enough to become a worthy opponent in rugby league's underwhelming ''Four Nations'' tournament.

There are some good people supporting PNG's NRL bid - Phil Gould in particular - but it is not a commercial proposition for the same reason the Pacific island nations are sadly excluded from rugby union's Super XV competition - there aren't enough Foxtel subscribers.

"There are some good people supporting PNG’s NRL bid - Phil Gould (pictured) in particular."

With a clear public benefit, and no commercial case, government should step in. The NRL would administer the funds more effectively than AusAID, while remaining accountable to the Australian government. It wouldn't be the first time the federal government invested in NRL: as a minister, Joe Hockey funded Souths Cares, for example, a foundation aimed at creating jobs in Redfern and other social projects.

Obviously, the team should have no ties to PNG's government, but its administration should include PNG nationals. These roles would be highly prized in PNG's ''big man'' culture, but the NRL should resist allocating them on the basis of local seniority.

It's time we heard stories from PNG other than the ones of relentless environmental damage, power struggles, corruption and violence. Having a PNG team in our NRL would be an engagement from which many other good things may flow.

In fact, though a simple idea, it may have more promise than all of our manifest policy failures there over the past 30 years.

Josh Dowse is an adviser on sustainable business and related public issues.

A day at Loloata Island

Dawn is slowly breaking as seen from the top of Loloata Island, Central province, yesterday morning, Saturday, March 17, 2012. All pictures @MALUM NALU

A view of Loloata Island Resort from the top of the hill yesterday morning

Bird's eye view of Loloata Island Resort yesterday morning.

Sunrise as seen from Loloata Island yesterday morning.

Walking track on the top of Loloata Island.

Neighbouring Motupore Island as seen from the top of Loloata Island.

Stairway to heaven at Loloata Island..

Another magical sunrise as seen from the top of Loloata Island yesterday.

Sunrise lights up a path towards Loloata Island yesterday morning.

Sunrise at Loloata Island yesterday morning.

Sunrise at Loloata Island yesterday morning.

Loloata Island jetty yesterday morning.

A view of Loloata Island from the jetty yesterday morning.

That's me after a daybreak walk and hill climb at Loloata Island yesterday morning, waiting for the restaurant to open so that I can wolf down some brekkie

Two very tame goura pigeons at Loloata Island Resort yesterday.

In the midst of our al fresco discussions on Loloata Island yesterday, this fella flew in uninvited, and perched himself on my shoulder. Made me feel like that pirate, Long John Silver, and his parrot in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island!

A child kayaking off Loloata Island yesterday

Walkway around Loloata Island.

Typical waterfront room at Loloata Island.

Crystal clear waters, mangroves, white sand, white clouds and blue sky at Loloata Island yesterday.

The ferry, mv Tahira Cat, about to leave Loloata Island yesterday afternoon.

Bye Loloata Island!

From left are senior staff of The National Peter Martinez (associate editor), Gabriel Singh (former Fiji Times, copy editor), me and former Fiji Times Editor Samisoni Kakaivalu (copy editor) on the top deck of the mv Tahira Cat somewhere in the waters of Bootless Bay yesterday.