Central & SE Asia / Australasia
Country profile: Papua New Guinea
Location: | Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia |
Climate: | tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation |
Terrain: | mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills |
Size: | 462840 sq. km total (Land area: 452860 sq. km Water area: 9980 sq.km) |
Population: | 5,931,769 (July 2008 est.) |
Languages: | Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region note: 820 indigenous languages spoken (over one-tenth of the world's total) |
Government: | constitutional parliamentary democracy |
Capital city: | Port Moresby |
Legal system: | based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Currency: | kina (PGK) |
Licensing: |
Country profile
The eastern half of the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world - was divided between Germany (north) and the UK (south) in 1885. The latter area was transferred to Australia in 1902, which occupied the northern portion during World War I and continued to administer the combined areas until independence in 1975. A nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997 after claiming some 20,000 lives.
Energy production and consumption
Oil | Gas | |
Production: | 50,000 bbl/day (January 2006 est.) | 95 million cu m (2005 est.) |
Consumption: | 26,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 95 million cu m (2005 est.) |
Exports: | 44,580 bbl/day (2005 est.) | |
Imports: | 24,020 bbl/day (2005 est.) | |
Reserves: | 170 million bbl (2007 est.) | 331 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Major fields: |
Papua New Guinea - recent news
27 Oct 20 |
PNG: Horizon Oil announces sale of PNG assets Horizon Oil has agreed to sell all of the shares in its wholly owned subsidiary Horizon Oil (PNG Holdings) to Arran Energy Investments, resulting in the transfer of its entire asset portfolio in Papua New Guinea. On completion of the transaction, Horizon will cease to have any operations in PNG. |
20 May 20 |
PNG: Twinza commences gas agreement discussions with PNG government ahead of FEED entry for the Pasca A development Twinza has welcomed the announcement by the PNG government that it has endorsed the submission for development of the Pasca A gas-condensate field in the Gulf of Papua. The Government is ready to commence negotiations with Twinza on the Gas Agreement in the near term, setting out the fiscal terms to allow the Project to enter the FEED phase later this year. |
04 May 20 |
PNG: PGS completes 3D survey offshore PNG and releases first data The acquisition phase of the PGS Painimaut 3D MultiClient program, gathering over 6 100 sq km of seismic data in Papua New Guinea, is now complete. Fast-track 3D GeoStreamer data is now available. |
04 Feb 20 |
PNG: PGS to acquire Painimaut 3D MultiClient program in Papua New Guinea PGS will commence the Painimaut 3D MultiClient program in Papua New Guinea ('PNG') in early February. Ramform Hyperion will acquire the survey, which will provide modern 3D data over held and vacant acreage in the frontier Papuan Basin. |
03 Feb 20 |
PNG: Papua New Guinea scraps talks with Exxon on P'nyang gas project Papua New Guinea has called off negotiations with Exxon Mobil regarding the P’nyang gas project, casting a shadow on a $13 billion plan to double the country’s gas exports by 2024. |
Papua New Guinea - more news
Other countries in this region
- Australia,
- Bangladesh,
- Brunei,
- Cambodia,
- China,
- Fiji,
- Hong Kong,
- India,
- Indonesia,
- Japan,
- Laos,
- Malaysia,
- Maldives,
- Mongolia,
- Myanmar,
- Nepal,
- New Zealand,
- North Korea,
- Pakistan,
- Palau,
- Philippines,
- Singapore,
- South Korea,
- Sri Lanka,
- Taiwan,
- Thailand,
- Timor Leste,
- Vietnam