PNG recovering from major quake, says PM

Papua New Guinea's prime minister says the country's economy is rebounding after the setback of February's major earthquake in the Highlands.

Similarly, Peter O'Neill said affected communities are showing great resilience after the devastation caused by the magnitude-7.5 quake and subsequent aftershocks.

Mr O'Neill said the quake left 150 people dead, wiped out many villages, and caused extensive damage to public infrastructure.

But he says the country is recovering.

"In fact the economic impact that has been much talked about in the recent credit ratings by Moody's, it's much less than what we have anticipated," Mr O'Neill said.

"We will see that the economic output may have dipped slightly in the first quarter of this year due to the temporary shutdown of some of the projects in the area. But it is returning to normalcy as we speak."

However, the prime minister said the long-term costs of cleaning up and rebuilding after the quake posed a big challenge for PNG.

But Mr O'Neill said he was pleased to see ExxonMobil's LNG gas project has resumed operations and is proceeding with a second LNG production train.

The US$19 billion project resumed operations in mid-April after being forced to shut down after the earthquake on 26 February, following which Exxon also invoked force majeure on exports.

But the major oil and gas projects were now coming back online in the provinces worst-hit by the quake, Hela and Southern Highlands.

"The Komo aifield has been reopened, Oil Search has commenced production in Kutubu, and in Gobe it will resume shortly," Mr O'Neill said.

"The worst affected area are the Moran fields (Oil search-operated oil resource) and it will take some time before production resumes."