East Timor takes on \"Goliath\" Australia in oil talks<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (DPA): When Australia and Indonesia agreed in
\n1989 to jointly exploit East Timor's vast offshore oil and
\nnatural gas deposits, their foreign ministers inked the deal on a
\nprivate jet flying over the Timor Sea, toasting the treaty with
\nchampagne.<\/p>\n
The arrogant display, in which Australia implicitly recognized
\nIndonesia's 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony, was
\nlikened to the Biblical David and Goliath, where the defenseless
\nterritory's larger neighbors were unlawfully pillaging its
\nresources.<\/p>\n
Now East Timor, which split from Indonesia last year following
\na landmark ballot that was marred by murder and violence, is
\nfighting back.<\/p>\n
The UN, which is administering East Timor as it prepares for
\nstatehood, will begin negotiations on Monday with Australia for a
\nnew agreement on control over oil and gas fields between their
\nmaritime borders in the Timor Sea - called the Timor Gap.<\/p>\n
East Timor, which has a US$43 million budget and is solely
\ndependent on foreign aid, could receive a financial windfall of
\nhundreds of millions of dollars in the next decade.<\/p>\n
It is believed to be the first time the UN will negotiate a
\ntreaty on behalf of a territory or country, and that history is
\nnot lost on UN diplomat Peter Galbraith, who will head East
\nTimor's team.<\/p>\n
\"There is a sense of injustice,\" Galbraith, a deputy chief of
\nthe UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), told
\nDeutsche Presse-Agentur in an interview.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Indonesia and Australia spent years haggling over who
\nwould control most of the Timor Gap as hundreds of thousands of
\npeople in East Timor died under the harsh military occupation.<\/p>\n
Galbraith said UNTAET was so confident East Timor was legally
\nentitled to the disputed oil and gas fields that it was prepared
\nto take Australia to the International Court of Justice in the
\nHague if negotiations did not go well.<\/p>\n
\"The view of East Timor, which was shared by UNTAET, was that
\nthe Australian-Indonesian treaty was illegal because Indonesia
\ndidn't have the authority to make any decisions,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Australia apparently did not think so and threatened UNTAET
\nofficials during preliminary talks earlier this year. They said
\nthe UN position could affect bilateral relations with East Timor,
\na source close to the negotiations said.<\/p>\n
\"The Australians were basically shocked and I think fair to
\nsay, not very gracious,\" the source told dpa. \"They anticipated
\nthat the UN would do nothing during its tenure and an independent
\nEast Timor would follow the current treaty until a new treaty is
\nnegotiated.\"<\/p>\n
The Australia-Indonesia treaty divided the Timor Gap into
\nthree connected vertical zones. The countries each controlled one
\nzone, and jointly managed and split profits from the larger third
\nsection, called Zone A.<\/p>\n
Maritime law in the early 1970s stated that a country's
\nnatural boundary was its seabed, which benefited Australia
\nbecause its seabed north of Darwin is a 3,000-metre trench that
\nincluded nearly all of the Gap.<\/p>\n
But by 1982, a new interpretation of maritime law stated that
\ncountries were entitled to sovereignty over waters 440 kilometers
\noff their coast. If there were not a 440-kilometer boundary
\nbetween two countries, as was the case with East Timor and
\nAustralia, the boundary would be the mid-way point between their
\nshores.<\/p>\n
This interpretation meant that East Timor, still under
\nIndonesian occupation, was entitled to all of Zone A as part of
\nits mid-point boundary.<\/p>\n
To avoid legal problems, the sides signed the 1989 interim
\ntreaty creating the Gap zones - which together look like a coffin
\n- and split oil and taxes revenues from the largely unexplored
\nZone A.<\/p>\n
Significant gas and oil reserves were later found in Zone A,
\nincluding a staggering 3 trillion cubic feet of gas called Bayu
\nUndan, making the Gap even more valuable.<\/p>\n
UN negotiators will demand control of up to 100 per cent of
\nZone A when they meet with Australian officials beginning Monday
\nin Dili, Galbraith said.<\/p>\n
Australian officials have said they hope to retain the 50-50
\nsplit in Zone A that they had with Indonesia, although opposition
\npoliticians passed a resolution supporting East Timor's right to
\nthe mid-point maritime boundary.<\/p>\n
Even if it loses joint control of Zone A, Australia still
\nstands to earn tens of millions of dollars annually by handling
\ngas piped from the Gap to facilities in Darwin.<\/p>\n
UN-controlled East Timor has already received a few million
\ndollars under the current treaty, but that is considered peanuts
\ncompared to future revenues estimated to be at least $80 million
\na year.<\/p>\n
\"Think of what that means in terms of rebuilding, and hiring
\nteachers,\" Galbraith said. \"Spent wisely, it would make an
\nenormous difference to the future of the country. It would mean
\nthe difference between East Timor being dependent on long-term
\nforeign aid and of being self-sufficient.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timor-takes-on-goliath-australia-in-oil-talks-1447893297",
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