PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MORE BOUNDARY STAKES IN THE SEABED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 17, 1976
• Content Type: REPORT

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
17 SEP 1q76
Confidential 'k
in the Seabed
Confidential
GC 76-10108
September 1976
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
CONFIDENTIAL
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MORE BOUNDARY STAKES
IN THE SEABED
Papua New Guinea is moving ahead to delimit its
territorial seas and continental shelves to protect its
interests against the claims of neighboring countries.
Possessing potentially valuable fishery and offshore
mineral resources, Papua New Guinea is one of the
most active South Pacific nations in LOS matters:
?Negotiations conducted with Indonesia prior to
independence settled sea boundary issues on
terms favorable to Papua New Guinea.
?Negotiations with Australia over the strategic
Torres Straits are under way.
?Although discussions with the Solomon Islands
have not been initiated, prospective negotiations
likely will be guided by a recently drafted
National Seas Bill?a document that if adopted
would significantly enlarge Papua New Guinea's
territorial seas and establish an economic zone.
Indonesia: The Arafura Sea Agreements
Preindependence negotiations with Indonesia in
early 1973 settled long-unresolved problems of
agreeing on a precise description of the point at which
the land boundary meets the southern coast and of the
seabed boundary off the coast in the Arafura Sea. With
the aid of hard-bargaining Australians, Papua New
Guinea obtained an advantageous seabed boundary.
The treaty states that the boundary begins at the
center of the mouth of the Bensbach River and juts out
into the Arafura Sea to the southwest in a straight line
at an angle of approximately 40 degrees (see Map A).
Territorial waters coincide with the seabed boundary.
By having the boundary angle to the southwest, rather
than continue straight south from the river mouth
before intersecting the Indonesia-Australia boundary,
the Papua New Guineans gained approximately 300
square kilometers of additional seabed and territorial
waters. This area is part of the Morehead Basin where
preliminary surveying has indicated potential
petroleum and natural gas deposits. The treaty should
also facilitate further exploration activity by the
development-minded Port Moresby officials. One
section of the agreement states that the parties will
cooperate in exploiting oil or other subsoil minerals
recoverable from both sides of the boundary. The gain
in territorial waters also resulted in a larger Papua New
Guinean fishing zone. Moreover, Papua New Guinean
vessels plying the Bensbach River were given right of
transit on the Indonesian side of the boundary.
Australia: The Torres Strait
Australia and Papua New Guinea have agreed to
delimit a new seabed boundary in the Torres Strait, an
action -that the latter has been actively pressing for in
the last few years. The existing border through the
waterway, which was established unilaterally by the
Australians in 1879, comes to within several hundred
yards of the Papua New Guinean coast in the vicinity
of Boigu and Saibai Islands (see Map A). Negotiations
are continuing, and the Foreign Ministers of the two
countries recently issued a joint statement citing
progress made thus far:
?Papua New Guinea has agreed that the seabed
boundary will lie to the north of all
Australian-inhabited islands except Boigu,
Dauan, and Saibai.
?Papua New Guinea has accepted that Australia
will retain all Australian-inhabited islands in the
Strait (including Boigu, Dauan, and Saibai whose
approximately 700 inhabitants will remain
Australian citizens).
?Australia has accepted that the seabed boundary
will be drawn in a location more southerly than
the present line [Canberra has used the line since
the 1950s to delimit offshore petroleum
concessions]; that the present line does not
represent the Australian view of the appropriate
permanent location of the seabed boundary; that
the seabed boundary will run to the south of
Boigu, Dauan, and Saibai; and that it will be
continuous.
NOTE: This paper was produced by the Office of Geographic and
Cartographic Research and coordinated within the Directorate of
Intelligence.
1
CONFIDENTIAL
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000300130001-6
?
Irian .lay
(INDONESIA)
142
144
PAPUAN
- 10-
Arafura i Sea
Map A
Torres Strait
International boundary
? ? Current line of separation
Seabed boundary (separates
seabed resource rights)
- Hypothetical alignment of renegotiated
Papua New Guinea-Australia
seabed boundary
C "" Reef
Area of negligible petroleum potential
CD
Gulf of
Papua
,Boigu I. ?-?"----Saihai I.
Dauan I. CP ?
egb e
TORRES STRAIT \AT
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Hammond 1. ;',/
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