As part of reforms to the way things are being done in the country’s petroleum sector, the government intends to move from the present Concession Based Licensing system into a Production Sharing Arrangement system. Petroleum and Energy Minister, Kerenga Kua, said the first step the government will be doing to achieve this, is to introduce a bill in parliament to establish a National Petroleum Authority. “This authority will be charged with the administration and management of the Oil and Gas Act,” said the minister. “The National Petroleum Authority within due course will administer and manage the production sharing arrangement.” The government expects this new National Petroleum Authority in operation by end of the first quarter of 2024. The next is to introduce a new Constitutional Law to be known as the Organic Law on Petroleum Production Sharing, and this would set up the constitutional and legal foundation for the new Production Sharing regime. He explained that the Production Sharing provisions of this law will not apply to Bougainville. “Nor do they apply to oil and gas developments like PNG LNG, Papua LNG, P’nyang LNG, which are projects under existing gas development agreements.” The other legislative components for the Petroleum Production Sharing reform agenda to be developed by the government are the Petroleum Production Sharing Act, a national content Petroleum Act and a Domestic Market Obligation Act. “One of the physical benefits this petroleum production circuit breaker will bring to the nation is the opportunity to review and increase our royalty take from our petroleum projects," said Kua. "Further more, the recipients of royalty, in particular our landowners and the provincial governments, will be much better off from the steps we are now taking." The minister also assured the investors that there is nothing to fear in the government taking this step. "With this in mind, Papua New Guinea continues to see itself as a favourable destination for foreign investments and it will act to encourage foreign investors to our shores to obtain a fair return on your investment capital."