The prevailing practice of approval of ECS recommendations by the Oil Minister and Finance Minister will continue
The government has constituted an empowered committee of secretaries (ECS) for nomination fields and all contractual regimes in the exploration & production (E&P) sector with functions including reviewing and recommending auctions and finalising contractual terms for oil and gas blocks. The panel includes Secretaries from the Ministries of MoPNG, Coal, Department of Expenditure and Law and Justice.
In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) said: “In pursuance of the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and in supersession of all previous notifications and orders issued from time to time constituting the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) under various contractual regimes relating to upstream petroleum operations, the Central government hereby constitutes an ECS for the purposes of nomination fields and all contractual regimes.”
The contractual regimes include Pre-NELP (new exploration licensing policy), NELP, coal bed methane (CBM), discovered small field (DSF) and open acreage licensing policy (OALP) under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (Help).
The government constitutes the ECS from time to time for resolving issues related to the E&P sector. The prevailing practice of approval of ECS recommendations by the Oil Minister and Finance Minister will continue. The powers and functions of the ECS include reviewing and recommending operationalisation of OALP/ DSF/ CBM bid rounds and finalising fiscal and contractual terms and bidding parameters for all blocks/ fields in all category basins.
The high-powered group also recommends for award of contracts after successful bidding rounds, resolve contractual issues, including extension of timelines, operationalisation of contracts and inter-ministerial coordination, as well as issues clarifications relating to provisions of contracts and policies.
They also recommend actions to be taken by the government for implementation and operationalisation of contractual provisions, including those relating to stability of leases and contracts, examine and recommend the quantum of damages/ claims payable under change in law, or compensation for taking away the rights, among others.
The ECS also takes a call on the recommendations and settlement agreements made by the Committee of External Eminent Experts (CEEE) in matters referred to it. The panel also reviews and makes recommendations in existing policies and any consequential change in the policies required to align with the amended ORD Act 1948 and PNG Rules 2025. In case of contradiction of existing policies and ORD Act/ PNG Rules, Act/ Rules shall prevail and, in such cases, the ECS shall recommend for required change in the existing policies.
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