PETROMIN NEWS

SIR PETER BARTER JOINS PETROMIN BOARD

The Chairman of Petromin Board Mr. Brown Bai has welcomed the appointment of Sir Peter Barter (D. Univ), Kt, OBE to the Board of Petromin.

Sir Peter, a well respected statesman complements the professional talent of the current Board.

He replaces Mr. George Minjihau a founding Director, who has retired in the last AGM. One other founding (interim) Director will soon retire after a replacement director has been cleared by the “fit and proper – person” test.

Sir Peter is a naturalised citizen and is a prominent businessman. He retired from politics in the last General Election and is now concentrating on his business, the Melanesian Tourist Services. He continues to fly his helicopter and runs the Melanesian Foundation which primarily serves humanitarian needs in PNG.

Mr. Bai said Sir Peter brings with him a wealth of experience in business, governance and community relations that the Board needs to manage the affairs of Petromin.

“Sir Peter is a well respected statesman in PNG and abroad and we look forward to his contribution at the Board level,” Mr. Bai said.

In the meantime, Mr. Bai has expressed satisfaction in the progress made to date in building managerial and technical capacity in Petromin.

“The Board and management have worked tirelessly in the short period of time since inception in March 2007 to build managerial and technical capacity.

“Petromin has recruited some of the best national petroleum and mining engineers and geologists from both the public and private sectors”.

“These experts, together with our external consultants are providing very valuable technical and operational support to the decision making process of Petromin,” Mr. Bai said.

He said Petromin’s technical and management experts are already participating in important technical and operational committees of the PNG LNG Project through Eda Oil Limited during the FEED process.

Mr. Bai said the Board and management have commenced the recruitment of expatriate managers with the requisite technical and managerial skills to complement and strengthen our current efforts.

He said the process of capacity building will take time but Petromin has established a solid foundation since inception in the last 12 months to build up its administrative, technical and commercial capacity.

“Petromin is well positioned to deliver on its legislated mandate of exercising the State’s back-in rights in mining and petroleum projects, including the proposed PNG LNG Project,” Mr Bai said.