On March 31, 2025, Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Jimmy Maladina, officially extended an invitation to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to invest in the country’s oil and gas sector. The invitation was made during a meeting with CSCEC President Mr. Wen Bing and his delegation at the headquarters of the National Petroleum Authority in Port Moresby.
“There is tremendous potential in Papua New Guinea’s oil and gas industry,” said Minister Maladina during the welcoming ceremony. “China State Construction is the largest construction company in China—and even the world. We hope you will look beyond your traditional construction strengths and consider participating in our petroleum sector through cooperation in contract engineering, civil works, petroleum engineering, and more.”
The Chinese delegation was led by Mr. Wen Bing, President of CSCEC. On the PNG side, the meeting was attended by Deputy Minister for Petroleum Hon. Alexander Oaem, Secretary for Petroleum Mr. David Manau, and Deputy Secretary Mr. George Imaraui. The meeting concluded with a group photo in a friendly and pragmatic atmosphere.
Petroleum Secretary Manau provided a detailed briefing on current and upcoming oil and gas exploration projects in PNG. He emphasized that the country possesses vast, untapped energy resources and offers significant investment opportunities. He warmly welcomed globally influential enterprises like CSCEC to take part in these initiatives.
Speaking on behalf of the Chinese delegation, President Wen Bing expressed his gratitude: “We sincerely thank Minister Maladina and his team for their warm reception, and we also appreciate the continued support of Prime Minister Hon. James Marape for Chinese enterprises in PNG.” He added that CSCEC places great importance on its global strategic layout and will further explore specific opportunities in the Papua New Guinean market.
Publicly available data shows that CSCEC was founded in 1982 and has since grown into an international investment and construction group with total assets exceeding US$12 billion. It operates eight listed companies and over 100 subsidiaries, ranking among the global leaders in competitiveness and brand influence within the construction industry.
In the context of growing geopolitical complexity and the drive among developing nations to diversify their partnerships, Papua New Guinea’s proactive outreach to CSCEC reflects both strong confidence in Chinese enterprise capabilities and a pragmatic step toward achieving strategic balance in its multilateral relations.
The key question now is how to transform PNG’s “resource advantages” into real “development dividends.” This will depend not only on the country’s natural endowments, but also on the scale, vision, and quality of international cooperation. Should CSCEC successfully enter the oil and gas sector in PNG, it would mark not only an extension of its construction expertise but also a potential milestone in China–PNG capacity cooperation.
