PNGBLOGS

COURIER MAIL PAPUA New Guinea's most powerful family is being investigated over private deals linked to more than $1 million worth of luxury property in Cairns. PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his son Arthur have been asked to explain how they obtained a luxury inner-city unit and a new $685,000 beach house. Documents have emerged linking the PNG Grand Chief and his powerbroker son to the real estate. Ombudsman Commission legal counsel Vergil Narokobi, one of the top three most senior officials with the anti-corruption watchdog, said they would investigate. "It is quite possible it is legitimate," Mr Narokobi said. "We will look to see if there were any breaches of the leadership code. "To afford such luxuries it is not something ordinary Papua New Guineans can do. It is a situation of unfairness, but that is my own personal view. "We have to give them the benefit of doubt. On the face of it we will respect our leaders until the contrary is shown.

COURIER MAIL PAPUA New Guinea's most powerful family is being investigated over private deals linked to more than $1 million worth of luxury property in Cairns. PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his son Arthur have been asked to explain how they obtained a luxury inner-city unit and a new $685,000 beach house. Documents have emerged linking the PNG Grand Chief and his powerbroker son to the real estate. Ombudsman Commission legal counsel Vergil Narokobi, one of the top three most senior officials with the anti-corruption watchdog, said they would investigate. "It is quite possible it is legitimate," Mr Narokobi said. "We will look to see if there were any breaches of the leadership code. "To afford such luxuries it is not something ordinary Papua New Guineans can do. It is a situation of unfairness, but that is my own personal view. "We have to give them the benefit of doubt. On the face of it we will respect our leaders until the contrary

AAP A cholera outbreak on Papua New Guinea’s side of Torres Strait has been contained, but health officials fear the deadly bacteria is spreading inland. PNG department of health officials say 30 villagers have died from cholera on Daru, a tiny remote island off the coast of PNG’s Western Province that is close to Australia’s Cape York. More than 800 Daru people have been diagnosed with cholera. The disease spread to the island from an outbreak that was first recorded in September last year on PNG’s northeast coast. Advertisement: Story continues below <iframe id="dcAd-1-4" src="http://ad-apac.doubleclick.net/adi/onl.smh.news/world;ctype=article;cat=world;pos=3;sz=300x250;tile=4;ord=2.9406761E7?" width='300' height='250' scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" allowtranspare

AAP A cholera outbreak on Papua New Guinea’s side of Torres Strait has been contained, but health officials fear the deadly bacteria is spreading inland. PNG department of health officials say 30 villagers have died from cholera on Daru, a tiny remote island off the coast of PNG’s Western Province that is close to Australia’s Cape York. More than 800 Daru people have been diagnosed with cholera. The disease spread to the island from an outbreak that was first recorded in September last year on PNG’s northeast coast. Advertisement: Story continues below <iframe id="dcAd-1-4" src="http://ad-apac.doubleclick.net/adi/onl.smh.news/world;ctype=article;cat=world;pos=3;sz=300x250;tile=4;ord=2.9406761E7?" width='300' height='250' scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" allowtransp

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. and its partners in a $15 billion liquefied natural gas development in Papua New Guinea are likely to produce more fuel than they initially expected during the first phase of the project, analysts said.  The venture initially may produce 6.9 million metric tons of LNG from two units, up from the 6.6 million tons previously projected, according to Credit Suisse and Citigroup Inc. analysts who cover Exxon’s partner, Oil Search Ltd. The Hides field drilling campaign next year is likely to underpin an expansion of the project to a third processing unit, Sydney-based Credit Suisse analyst Sandra McCullagh said after a visit to the project in Papua New Guinea. A final investment decision on the next stage may occur in 2012, she said. Exxon and partners approved the development of the project almost a year ago. The venture may double the size of Papua New Guinea’s economy, Port Moresby-based Oil Search has said. First exports are

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. and its partners in a $15 billion liquefied natural gas development in Papua New Guinea are likely to produce more fuel than they initially expected during the first phase of the project, analysts said.  The venture initially may produce 6.9 million metric tons of LNG from two units, up from the 6.6 million tons previously projected, according to Credit Suisse and Citigroup Inc. analysts who cover Exxon’s partner, Oil Search Ltd. The Hides field drilling campaign next year is likely to underpin an expansion of the project to a third processing unit, Sydney-based Credit Suisse analyst Sandra McCullagh said after a visit to the project in Papua New Guinea. A final investment decision on the next stage may occur in 2012, she said. Exxon and partners approved the development of the project almost a year ago. The venture may double the size of Papua New Guinea’s economy, Port Moresby-based Oil Search has said. First exports

Mathew Murphy IN SEPTEMBER, Origin Energy's Grant King announced a plan to harness the resource from Papua New Guinea's Purari River to generate 1800 megawatts of hydro power that would be shared between PNG and Australia. It is a project that was investigated 30 years ago but abandoned as impractical due in part to the electricity that would have been lost along the transmission line. Analysts have labelled the multibillion-dollar plan ''ambitious'' but King says that technically it can now be achieved with little fuss. However, there is an acknowledgment from Origin that building the project in PNG may prove the most ''ambitious'' part. As projects like the $US15 billion ($A15.2 billion) Exxon Mobil-led PNG LNG development have already done, Origin has started preliminary work to determine what it can leave behind for the locals as its ''social licence'' to operate. As Newmont Mining's former president Pierre Lassonde said,