WELLINGTON/MELBOURNE: At least one company began evacuating non-essential personnel after a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Papua New Guinea’s energy-rich interior on Monday, causing landslides, damaging buildings and closing oil and gas operations.
The tremor hit in the rugged, heavily forested Southern Highlands about 560 kilometers northwest of the capital, Port Moresby, at around 345am local time (1545 GMT Sunday), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
A spokesman at Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Center said by telephone the affected area was very remote and the agency could not properly assess damage until communication was re-established. He said there were no confirmed casualties.
The PNG government also said it had sent disaster assessment teams. At least 13 aftershocks with a magnitude of 5.0 or more rattled the area throughout the day, according to USGS data, but no tsunami warnings were issued.
“The Papua New Guinea Defense Force has also been mobilized to assist with the assessment and the delivery of assistance to affected people as well as the restoration of services and infrastructure,” Isaac Lupari, the chief secretary to the government, said in a statement.
ExxonMobil said it had shut its Hides gas conditioning plant and that it believed administration buildings, living quarters and a mess hall had been damaged. It also said it had suspended flights into the nearby Komo airfield until the runway could be surveyed.
“Due to the damage to the Hides camp quarters and continuing aftershocks, ExxonMobil PNG is putting plans in place to evacuate non-essential staff,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Gas is processed at Hides and transported along a 700 km (435 miles) line that feeds a liquefied natural gas plant near Port Moresby for shipping.
PNG oil and gas explorer Oil Search said in a statement it had also shut production in the quake-affected area.
The giant Grasberg copper mine operated by the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan in neighboring Papua province was not affected, a Jakarta-based spokesman said.
However, the quake and several aftershocks caused panic in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesian Papua, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said in a statement, but there were no reports of casualties or damage there.
Udaya Regmi, head of the International Red Cross in Papua New Guinea, said communications were “completely down” in Tari, one of the larger settlements near the quake’s epicenter, and that landslides had cut roads.
Several other aid and missionary agencies said poor communications in the area made damage and injury assessment difficult.
“The bush structures that they build tend to handle earthquakes extremely well,” Christian missionary Brandon Buser said after contacting several remote villages by shortwave radio.
Earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.
“This is the Papuan fold-and-thrust belt, so it’s a typical movement of faults in that region, but it’s big,” said Chris McKee, acting director of the Geohazards Management Division in Port Moresby.
Part of PNG’s northern coast was devastated in 1998 by a tsunami, generated by a 7.0 quake, which killed about 2,200 people.
Major quake cuts communications, halts oil and gas operations in Papua New Guinea
Major quake cuts communications, halts oil and gas operations in Papua New Guinea
Philippines signs free trade pact with UAE
- UAE deal is Philippines’ fourth free trade pact, after South Korea, Japan, and EFTA
- Business body warns of uneven gains if domestic safeguard mechanisms insufficient
MANILLA: The Philippines signed on Tuesday a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the UAE, its first such deal with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines and the UAE first agreed to explore a free trade pact in February 2022 and formalized the process with terms of reference in late 2023. Negotiations started in May 2024 and were finalized in 2025.
The CEPA signing was witnessed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who led the Philippine delegation to Abu Dhabi.
“The CEPA is the Philippines’ first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern country, marking a milestone in expanding the nation’s global trade footprint,” Marcos’s office said.
“The agreement aims to reduce tariffs, enhance market access for goods and services, increase investment flows, and create new opportunities for Filipino professionals and service providers in the UAE.”
The UAE is home to some 700,000 Filipinos, the second-largest Filipino diaspora after Saudi Arabia.
With bilateral trade worth about $1.8 billion, it is also a key trading partner of the Philippines in the Middle East, and accounted for almost 39 percent of Philippine exports to the region in 2024.
The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry earlier estimated it would lead to at least 90 percent liberalization in tariffs and give the Philippines wider access to the GCC region.
“Preliminary studies indicate the CEPA could boost Philippine exports to the UAE by 9.13 percent, generate consumer savings, and strengthen overall trade linkages with the Gulf region,” Marcos’s office said.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Makati expects the pact to bring stronger trade flows, capital and technology for renewable energy, infrastructure, food, and water security projects as long as domestic policy supports it.
“CEPA can serve as a trade accelerator and investment catalyst for the Philippines,” Nunnatus Cortez, the chamber’s chairman, told Arab News.
The pact could result in “expanding exports, attracting capital, diversifying economic partners, upgrading industries, and supporting long-term growth — provided the country actively supports exporters and converts provisions into concrete commercial outcomes,” said Cortez.
“The main downside risk of CEPA lies in domestic readiness. Without strong industrial policy, MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) support, safeguard mechanisms, and export development, CEPA could lead to import dominance, uneven gains, fiscal pressure, and limited structural transformation.”
The deal with the UAE is the Philippines’ fourth bilateral free trade pact, following agreements with South Korea, Japan, and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
