The landowner negotiations are going nowhere in a hurry and yesterday

one of the clans walked out of the meeting. So at the moment we are

taking a wait and see attitude but position wise we are miles apart. It

is difficult for the landowners to see the difference between the

benefits that come from the discovery of a new oil field, which was what

happened last time, and the construction of some pipelines to an

existing field, which is what we are doing now.

While everybody accepts that delays, unrealistic expectations and

stalled negotiations are the price of doing business in PNG it’s

frustrating all the same. Also we can’t wait forever and an exit

strategy must be considered if we can’t make any headway.