Great interview with P Mulacek

[Palm]

EMTV is a very good resource for information in many areas of PNG. News, sports, business and most recently the PNG Resource section has gotten going. Here is a 43 minute interview with Phil Mulacek which is very revealing and explains what IOC has done in PNG, what struggles it's had and the great future now that so many O&G exploration companies are coming back. Pull up a chair and grab a tall Maui Special and enjoy:

 http://www.emtv.com.pg/news-app/item/resource-png-episode-56

[Spartina]

EXCELLENT Palm, thanks. Everybody should listen to this.

[Palm]

Yes, interesting video.

"The country is running out of oil reserves and many feel there is more. But it's likely it is deeper as it is in the Highlands". Big rig ready and able at Elk.

"We were told there was no way to build bridges and roads like we wanted because of the rain and conditions. But we did. And we were the first to be able to bring in a non heli-portable rig by road like we did. We used military design bridges and now have a road system that will make development much easier and less expensive."

"One of our wells is bigger than all of those for PNG LNG combined. We have many efficiencies with that and the fact that our pipeline is 1/7th of PNG LNG's."

"With our roads and bridges we can save a lot of costs by being able to truck in the modules much more easy." IMHO he is talking about the CSP modules here.

"Since the election we now have tailwinds instead of what's called headwinds here in PNG. We now have buy-in from the PM straight down through the relevant departments and we are all working together."

"We don't intend to have the initial size if project that PNG LNG has. Around the world people tend to agree that 3.8 mtpa is the sweet spot."

"We welcome companies like Total, Talisman, etc. We can all benefit by the economies of scale by developing the resources together for PNG."

"People have to understand how little gas it would take to power the whole nation of PNG. It makes sense and we are glad to have the opportunity to work with PNG in this way. It will only take one-tenth of one percent of our gas to provide power for Gulf."

[cybersssss]

Great post...Thanks!

[jft310]

Worth the time to see this interview and it may answer many questions some may have.

[ArtM72]

Mulacek reminds me of the late Ken Iverson who built Nucor Steel (NUE) from a small steel joist operation in the 1960s into one of the two largest steel producers in the US today. Iverson said if you take care of your people, your suppliers and your host communities then your stockholders will be well rewarded. That seems to be where PM is coming from with IOC today. The growth potential for LNG is certainly comparable to the potential some saw for steel "mini-mills" in the 1970s.

The one "negative" I took away from the presentation was PM's need to continuously stroke Duma and publicly reiterate Duma's support of the project. Duma remains an issue, a burden if you will, for IOC. The size of that burden hopefully is being limited by O'Neil. Time will tell. Looking forward to the next 24 hours.

[Getitrt2]

Art, keep in mind when that interview was done, apparently early Dec. It appears that Duma has since then become less of a question mark, and in fact a pretty dependable supporter.

[Palm]

"The one "negative" I took away from the presentation was PM's need to continuously stroke Duma and publicly reiterate Duma's support of the project. Duma remains an issue, a burden if you will, for IOC. The size of that burden hopefully is being limited by O'Neil. Time will tell. Looking forward to the next 24 hours."

I (and I think others) actually see this as a very welcomed and necessary change for many reasons. Phil mentions in his presentation that they now have an aligned government from the PM down through the different departments and that says they are all working toward the same goals and there is accountability. Mr Duma is now seen as a supporter and he is being recognized as that. Not so in the past and partly due to the divided factions in PNG. People were getting yanked around like Maui's homemade raft in the sea.

Much improved tone from both sides from the past.