Policy and the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas pipeline

Abstract

Pipelines constructed to carry oil or gas often cross the lands of people who find themselves low on the list of potential beneficiaries of the projects they are hosting. Where rights to benefit are acknowledged, it still may be difficult to confirm the legitimacy of claimants or to find an uncontested method to establish legitimacy. Local-level protests are not uncommon. This problem has been to the fore in Papua New Guinea [PNG]. It is illustrated by contrasting approaches to identifying landowners for the pipeline servicing the PNG Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG] project. We offer suggestions to minimize the likelihood that similar problems emerge with future LNG projects in PNG.