A government delegation will visit the Hides Gas Plant today to respond to a recent petition presented to Exxon Mobil by disgruntled landowners of PDL 7.
A ministerial delegation will follow tomorrow.
This was announced by Petroleum and Energy Minister, Nixon Duban, at a press conference late yesterday afternoon.
Minister Duban said the main issue with the delay in payment of landowner royalties continues to be identifying genuine landowners.
On Monday, landowners from PDL 7 sent a petition to Exxon Mobil and the Prime Minister’s office demanding answers for the delay in payments, and accusing the government of using landowner money as collateral for state loans.
Acting Secretary for the Department of Petroleum and Energy, David Manau, said the process of identifying landowners has progressed in some areas, but has stalled in others because of this kind of dispute.
