PNG LNG revenue flows
He said the government is expected to receive an estimated US$30 billion revenue over the next 20 years, which is substantial revenue. He said the project is managed by ExxonMobil and all revenue from the gas export are parked in a trust account that is managed by ExxonMobil and not the PNG government.
"No revenue has been distributed to any of the partners until the lenders and the insurance companies make a completion clearance and guarantee that there must be 120 days of continuous flow of gas to the processing facility at portion 152," Mr O’Neill said. He said after that guarantee has been issued by the lenders then the revenue will be distributed to the government and all the LNG project partners.
"I want to assure the members that the funds are in safe hands and managed well. We do not have any reason not to trust our partners who are doing a great job in delivering a world class project on behalf of the country," Mr O’Neill said.
He said this during Question Time in Parliament when responding to a series of questions from Kandep MP Don Polye and Bulolo MP Sam Basil who raised concerns that LNG revenues could have been used to meet some unbudgeted and unplanned commitments of government.
Mr O’Neill said the government has not received any revenue from the sale of gas this year but will start getting money from 2015, 2016 onwards. "We have not received one toea of that fund as yet, as a result of that when we frame the 2014 Budget, we did not include that in our budget estimates.
He said substantial revenue will be coming into the country and the government is working to protect that revenue by establishing the Sovereign Wealth Fund which will be table in Parliament very soon.
"We will protect the revenue coming in from the LNG as we do not want abuses like we have had in the past where we had major resource developments with nothing to show for."
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