O'Neill elected as PNG prime minister by overwhelming majority

Peter O'Neill has just been elected as prime minister of Papua New Guinea by an overwhelming majority.
O'Neill collected 94 votes with only 12 against.
Earlier, Finschhafen MP Theodore Zurenuoc was elected as speaker.
O'Neill has been rushed off to Government House to be sworn as prime minister by Governor General Sir Michael Ogio.

Peter O'Neill to be invited to form government

Peter O'Neill and his political entourage arrive in Port Moresby by 2pm today and head off to attend the Return of Writs Ceremony at Government House starting at 3pm.
Thereafter he will formally receive his invitation to form government.

PNG LNG Project drilling starts at Hides

Esso Highlands Ltd has commenced drilling operations for the PNG LNG Project at the Hides natural gas field, located in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.  

Rig 702 at Hides.-Picture courtesy of ESSO HIGHLANDS

The drill wells will produce approximately 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the life of the project.  

“The PNG LNG Project is unique and important for Papua New Guinea.

“The start of our drilling programme is a key step in meeting our goal of first LNG deliveries in 2014,” said drilling manager Jim McDermott. 

 The specially-designed Nabors Rig 702 is being used to drill the initial well, the first of several natural gas production wells at Hides.

The rig has incorporated best-in-class features to help safely and effectively drill PNG’s world-class resource.

 It has been designed to withstand earthquakes and includes containment equipment and facilities to protect the environment.  

A second rig to be used in the PNG LNG Project drilling programme has arrived in PNG and is currently being transported to the Hides area.

“We have an exceptional team, including Papua New Guinean drilling engineers who recently returned from Melbourne, Australia, where they spent a year-and-a-half learning about ExxonMobil’s drilling operations.

 “They are now putting their training into practice,” McDermott said.

InterOil to farm-in PNG interest

InterOil Press Release

 InterOil Corporation has executed a farm-in agreement and related documents with Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp relating to its acquisition of a 10% net (12.9 percent gross) participating interest in Petroleum Prospecting License 237 ("PPL 237") onshore Papua New Guinea, including the Triceratops structure and exploration acreage located within that license.

This announcement is made further to the company's announcement on April 30, 2012 that it had entered into a heads of agreement ("HOA") with PRE and the terms are materially the same as those previously announced.

Execution of the farm-In agreement accomplishes one of the milestones contemplated to complete the farm-in transaction.

Completion of the farm-in transaction remains subject to satisfaction of additional conditions within 18 months, including execution of joint venture operating agreements with PRE, and PNG government approval.

Additionally, PRE has the option to terminate the farm-in agreement at various stages of the work programme and to be reimbursed up to US$96 million of the $116 million initial cash payment, which does not include carried costs, out of future upstream production proceeds.

Pacific LNG Operations Ltd,  an affiliate of Clarion Finanz AG,  and its affiliates ("PacLNG") are participating on a 25% beneficial equity basis in the portion of the farm-in transaction relating to the Triceratops structure, by reducing PacLNG's indirect participating interest in the Triceratops structure.

As a result, PacLNG will receive 25% of the payments PRE makes under the farm-in transaction relating to the Triceratops structure.

PacLNG will also receive a commission fee of 2.5%of cash payments made by Pacific Rubiales other than carry.

Certain other indirect participating interest holders may also participate in the farm-in transaction.

"InterOil and its partners are pleased to have completed execution of the farm-In agreement with Pacific Rubiales, a company with a track record of successful exploration and production development," said Phil Mulacek, chief executive officer of InterOil.

 "We look forward to completing the Pacific Rubiales farm-in, and to accelerating appraisal and development of the Triceratops gas and condensate field in Papua New Guinea."

Ronald Pantin, chief executive officer of Pacific Rubiales, commented: "We are very pleased to be partnered with InterOil and its management on what we believe to be a world class gas and condensate trend and which provides us with the strategic opportunity for early stage large resource capture on the doorstep of the world's fastest growing primary energy markets."

Pilot: O’Neill’s men punched me

By MALUM NALU

A HELICOPTER pilot claims he was assaulted by political minders in Alotau where members of the caretaker Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s group are camped.
Pilot James Pima told The National he was assaulted by minders of the camp on Saturday when he landed Telikom technicians in Alotau.



Captain James Pima (second from left, with a black eye) with Telikom staff (from left) Pilol Iavia, Willie Monda and Julius Lepilis.-Picture by MALUM NALU

 A source at the Alotau camp confirmed that there was a confrontation but that there was no physical assault on the pilot.
“He happened to fly into a political camp on a Saturday with people who appeared to be ununiformed soldiers posing as Telikom technicians,” the source said.
“He was told to p*** off. He was trying to harass MPs who are there on their own volition for a retreat before the formation of government.”
Pima said, however, that his passengers were Telikom employees.
He said he was assaulted and was sporting a black eye and that he was forced to fly off in an overheated Heli Solutions helicopter.
That endangered the lives of his passengers, as well as travelling on an empty tank.
Pilots and civil aviation officials said on Saturday that threatening a pilot and endangering an aircraft was a very serious criminal offence.
Pima reported the matter to 6-Mile police after landing in Port Moresby on Saturday afternoon.
A shaken Pima and the three Telikom staff told reporters on Saturday in Port Moresby that the incident was totally uncalled for.
“This is the work of some low-life desperate political scumbag scavengers,” Pima said.
“Some are failed politicians who are leeches of politicians and maggots feeding off a weak and corrupt government and government systems.
“These spineless cowards wouldn’t compete and survive in a real world.”
Telikom staffer Pilol Iavia said they were in Alotau to restore microwave links.
“When we landed in Alotau, we were approached by a group of men who asked us what we were doing there.
“We explained that we were Telikom staff.
“They asked us to leave. The captain had a confrontation with the group of men.”
Pima said he had his shirt ripped off and was punched in the left eye

Former Aiyura principal congratulates Loujaya Toni

By DANIEL KUNERT
Former Principal
Aiyura National High School

Aloha!

The woman elected to represent the Lae Open seat is, as many of you already know, the Loujaya who was our student at Aiyura back in 1980-81: Loujaya Kousa at the time.

Daniel Kunert and wife Nancy

I know she has been very active in... various endeavors after she finished at UPNG, including, I believe, as a journalist, serving as editor of the Air Niugini in-flight magazine, writing and recording music, assisting in the production of some national celebrations, etc. She had had a book of her poetry published even before she started as a student at Aiyura.
I am wondering if this is going to start a trend......probably a very good trend....where, in situations where only one woman runs, it will be much easier for her to win the seat.....if they are still using the "first past the post" voting system (and still using the preferential version of that system). Let most of the men divide the male votes amongst them, and most of the female voters vote for the lone female candidate. (But it has been a long time since I served as an invigilator for a candidate for Parliament and I am not sure what has evolved in the past 25 years with regard to the voting system in PNG.) 
I have often felt that PNG will not be able to get on top of some of their very serious problems unless and until they have a much better representation of women at all levels of government, especially in Parliament. Congratulations to Loujaya!

Dan

Daniel J Kunert
1092 W Kawailani St
Hilo, HI 96720-3281

Michael Malabag storms home in Moresby North West

Unionist Micheal Malabag got home in a photo-finish against Miria Ikupu 9, 351 votes to 9, 334 in the Moresby North West Seat today.

Michael Malabag

 Malabag picked up 906 votes from woman candidate Janet Sape to storm home.
Declaration is expected to be done tomorrow.