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Brief history of the country

Tonga (the Kingdom of Tonga) is a Polynesian archipelago of 169 islands (36 inhabited) dispersed over 700,000 sq kms of the south Pacific. Fiji is to the northwest, Samoa to the north and New Zealand to the south. Around 70% of the population live on Tongatapu.

The islands were probably first inhabited 3,500 years ago during the migration of the Lapitan Austronesian people eastwards from Southeast Asia. By the 12th century the Tuʻi Tonga empire had significant influence across the south Pacific but civil wars in the 15th and 17th centuries damaged its power base.

The first landing by Europeans was in 1616 when a Dutch vessel made a short trade visit. Captain Cook landed in 1773, naming them the Friendly Islands after which missionaries began arriving. In 1845 the country was united as a kingdom and it was declared a constitutional monarchy 30 years later.

In 1900, when settlers and rival chiefs tried to remove the second king, Tonga became a protected state under a Treaty of Friendship with the UK. It maintained its sovereignty and eventually became fully independent in 1970.

Tonga's economy depends on overseas worker’s remittances. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries are the key employers. The royal family dominates the financial and telecom sectors.

Oil and gas summary

Tonga’s 169 islands are divided into three groups, Vava'u, Ha'apai, and Tongatapu, stretching for 800 kms from north to south. The largest island is Tongatapu, representing about one quarter of the total land area of the country.

The three groups of Tongan islands are either full coral reefs built up on uplifted oceanic crust of the Pacific tectonic plate, or volcanoes with fringing reefs. There are 2 parallel chains of islands with differing geologies.

The western Islands sit on the edge of the Indo-Australian plate just west of the Tonga Trench. They form the volcanic Tongan Volcanic Arc created in a fore-arc setting during subduction of the westwards moving Pacific tectonic plate under the Indo-Australian plate at the Tonga Trench.

The volcanoes developed as the descending Pacific plate melted. They have only fringing coral reefs. In 2014 a new island was created through this continued volcanic activity.

The eastern islands sit on the Tonga ridge of Pacific oceanic crust that runs parallel and just east of the volcanic Arc and Tongan Trench. These islands consist of low-lying coral limestones surrounded by fringing reefs with only one (Eua) having Eocene oceanic crust rising above sea level.

The area is volcanically active as evidenced by a huge eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano in January 2022 just 65kms north of the capital which caused a tsunami and ash fall..

The volcanic and coral islands of Tonga have no history of drilling and production. No exploration wells have ever been drilled in any the islands of the country or in their surrounding waters.

Globalshift considers that both sets of islands have no oil and gas potential, onshore or offshore.

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TONGA

Map and National Flag

AUSTRALASIA

A black bird

Australasia

Tonga

Capital

Population

Land area (sq kms)

Oil prod (000s b/d)

Gas prod (bcm/yr)

Oil cons (000s b/d)

Gas cons (bcm/yr)

Nuku’alofa

0.103 mm

747

None

None

1.29

None

Government

Tonga is a constitutional monarchy with a powerful and wealthy family.

The King is Head of State and the Prime Minister is appointed by the King from the members of Parliament. Executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Ministers.

Legislative power is vested in the King in Parliament.The Legislative Assembly is composed of 9 representatives of the Nobles and 17 representatives of the people.

There is no department of government in Tonga specifically responsible for oil and gas resources.

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