by Delly Waigeno – EM TV News, India
India has shown interest in investing into Papua New Guinea’s petroleum and energy sector.
India’s largest international oil and gas company, ONGC Videsh Limited, made their interests known during an interaction with the PNG delegation led by Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill.
Mr O’Neill said, PNG needs to encourage this strategic partnership with India. Following the meet, a delegation from India is expected to visit PNG to seek out opportunities for investment.
It was a high profile interactive meeting with key cabinet ministers led by PM O’Neill.
India’s largest international petroleum and energy company, Oil and Natural Gas Company or ONGC Videsh Limited, said they were seeking collaboration with the sector in PNG.
Mr O’Neill welcomed their interest, saying that PNG has the unique ability to deliver LNG at a right price.
He said that India was an ideal partner, being the 4th biggest economy in the world with a population of over 1.2 billion people and a relatively huge need for energy to sustain this growth.
“Its economy has been growing at a rate of 7 to 8 per cent per annum, which is a big growth in anybody’s language and to maintain that level of growth, the Indian government and off course the people need energy.
“Papua New Guinea is in a unique position because of our location, we are very close to India and the Asian markets and because of that, we are able to supply LNG and oil products to markets like India… much cheaper than many of our competitors in this sector,” Mr O’Neill said.
Because of these factors, the prime minister said PNG is encouraging the Indian Government and its state owned entities, especially the oil and gas companies, to invest in PNG.
A Memorandum Of Understanding was previously signed between both countries, however, it has yet to be enforced.
Mr O’Neill expressed satisfaction with the discussions held yesterday with business leaders from the oil and gas sector in India.
“We’ve had very good discussions with the business leaders from the oil and gas sector and they are quite happy to come and continue to work at the implementation of that MOU. Our government is committed to that MOU, we will make sure that we enter the Indian LNG market especially by making sure that we secure this market for the gas that we are going to produce in the second LNG project that is coming up,” Mr O’Neill said.
Narendra Verma, Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Limited, was content with PNG’s willingness to cooperate.
“We are very much pleased with the prime minister’s visit here and we look forward to this opportunity to re-capitalise…and we look forward to an active participation,” Mr Verma said.
