The Kutubu Discovery

When black oil flowed at Kutubu in 1986, it was the culmination of an exploration effort that had begun seventy years earlier.

Frank Rickwood tells the story of the search for oil in Papua New Guinea with an insider’s knowledge. He describes the experiences of the early geological survey parties who travelled on foot into unmapped country and made contact with people who had, in some cases, never seen a European. He explains how geological information was painstakingly gathered, and theories were formulated to explain the tantalising shows of gas and oil.