Key Highlights

  • The company opened an expression of interest for partners to fund and build a Regional Strategic Fuel Reserve at Kido, about 35 kilometres from Port Moresby.
  • Phase 1 would hold 11.25 million barrels of diesel and jet fuel in 52 tanks, and the project is at concept stage with preliminary, non-binding discussions.
  • No binding agreement, partnership or offtake exists, and approvals, engineering design and a final investment decision are still required.

A concept-stage call for partners

Pacific Lime and Cement Limited (ASX:PLA), which is listed on the ASX and the PNGX, said it has opened an expression of interest for a wharf-side site at Kido in Papua New Guinea for a Regional Strategic Fuel Reserve. The company said it has arranged land, deep-water berths and a special economic zone framework for strategic partners to fund and build the facility. It described the project as being at concept stage, with discussions with sovereign and local parties preliminary and non-binding.

The site is in the Kido and Rearea Special Economic Zone and port precinct, about 35 kilometres from Port Moresby. The zone is 4,500 hectares and gazetted, and the company said its licence covers liquid fuel storage as a permitted use. Land is held through Mayur Industrials PNG Limited, an 87 per cent owned subsidiary of Pacific Lime and Cement, with the PNG Government holding the remaining 13 per cent.

What is proposed

The company said Phase 1 would hold 11.25 million barrels, about 1.8 billion litres, of diesel and jet fuel. That would comprise 52 tanks, 41 for diesel and 11 for jet fuel, in nine bunded compounds on a 70 hectare wharf-side platform beside two berths at the Kido deep-water wharf. It said this would be about 1.8 times the planned Australian Fuel Security Reserve of roughly 1 billion litres. Later phases would add capacity for further sovereign or allied customers, and tenure is through 99-year State leases.

On logistics, the company said Kido is about 1,830 nautical miles from Australia's east coast, against about 3,630 nautical miles from Singapore. It estimated laden tanker transit of two to three days to Townsville and six to seven days to Sydney, via the Coral Sea. Supply was modelled from Singapore, with crisis release to Australia, New Zealand and Pacific nations.

Commercial model and funding

The company described a capital-light landlord model in which partners fund construction, own the fuel and pay for tank reservation on a long-term, cost-of-service basis. Mayur Industrials would earn lease, sublicence and port-related income, subject to binding agreements. Pacific Lime and Cement said it does not intend to fund Phase 1 tank construction from its balance sheet, would fund its share of landlord-side infrastructure from working capital, and will explore development finance and regional government facilities.

The company said capital cost estimates prepared by its adviser, Maritime and Transport Business Solutions, are preliminary and concept-level, and sit at the lower end of comparable international terminals.

The company pointed to Australia's Fuel Security and Resilience Package, announced in May 2026, which includes A$3.2 billion for a government-controlled reserve of about 1 billion litres and a ten-day increase to the Minimum Stockholding Obligation. It said that would lift diesel and jet reserves to 50 days, still short of the 90-day International Energy Agency benchmark.

Approvals, risks and next steps

The company said base wharf infrastructure at Kido is environmentally permitted and under construction, but reserve-specific development, environmental and marine approvals, front-end engineering and design, and a final investment decision are still required. It said no binding agreement, partnership or offtake has been entered into with any government or third party, and that there is no certainty discussions will lead to an agreement or the project proceeding.

Further risks flagged include reliance on third-party funding and binding customer commitments, and the possibility that the project requires shareholder approval under ASX Listing Rule 11.1. The company also said whether customers can count Kido stocks towards national stockholding obligations depends on policy and intergovernmental arrangements not yet in place.

Next steps stated by the company are to launch a structured process with international sovereign, strategic and industry parties to shortlist partners and offtakers, continue current discussions, prepare the Phase 1 approvals pathway and engineering scope, and update the market under its continuous disclosure obligations.