Timor Gap no bonanza: Downer<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
\non Tuesday rejected fears of a Gulf-like scenario arising from
\nany dispute over the potentially oil and gas rich Timor Gap area
\nif East Timor becomes independent.<\/p>\n
He said Canberra believed a treaty governing the joint
\nexploration of petroleum in the area between the troubled
\nPortuguese colony of East Timor and Australia would continue to
\nbe enforced even if it had to be amended.<\/p>\n
Downer also said based on Australia's assessment, there was
\nnot going to be a petroleum bonanza in the area.<\/p>\n
\"I would make this point to you that people who think that
\nsomehow the Timor Gap has such wealth in it that it will be like
\nthe Persian Gulf living around East Timor are only doomed to be
\ndisappointed,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Downer, here to attend a bilateral ministerial committee
\nmeeting ahead of a visit to Indonesia, was responding to a
\nquestion from the floor after delivering a lecture on \"Australia
\nand the region.\"<\/p>\n
Australia and Indonesia are bound by the Timor Gap treaty,
\nwhich covers the control of offshore oil and gas reserves, but
\nofficials have raised the possibility of a review of the pact if
\nEast Timor becomes independent.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has floated the possibility of letting go of the
\ntroubled former Portuguese colony if an autonomy proposal for
\nEast Timor is rejected by its people.<\/p>\n
The autonomy outline is being finalized in talks with Portugal
\nand the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Downer said Australia's assessment of the potential in the
\nTimor Gap showed \"this isn't going to be to a growing oil and gas
\nbonanza that many hope -- although we will hope that, it will be
\nnice for us too.<\/p>\n
\"Our expectations is that Timor Gap treaty will just continue
\nbut we weren't thinking of giving them the whole of the Timor Gap
\nright up to the beach of Australia. And that might not come as a
\nsurprise to anybody,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In December 1989, Indonesia and Australia signed an agreement
\non the joint exploration of the Timor Gap where they have
\noverlapping border claims.<\/p>\n
The agreement, that came into force in 1991, splits the 35,000
\nsquare kilometer (14,000 square mile) sea bed, believed to be
\npotentially rich in oil and gas, into three zones.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and Australia each control one zone while the third
\nand largest is jointly administered with a 50-50 income split.<\/p>\n
The contracts awarded so far, involving Mobil, Australian
\nBroken Hill Pty Ltd (BHP), Woodside, Shell, Phillips, Boral
\nEnergy, Marathon and Enterprise, have been for the jointly
\noperated zone.<\/p>\n
Downer said if East Timor became independent, then it would
\ninherit the Timor Gap treaty according to the principle of
\nsuccessor state and there would be some \"consequential
\namendments\" to the pact that would have to be made.<\/p>\n
BHP<\/p>\n
In a related development, BHP Indonesia president Harriet
\nRichards said in Bali on Tuesday that should there be any change
\nin the legal framework in the Timor Gap Treaty, BHP, as the lead
\nunit operator for the region's Elang, Kakatua and Kakatua North
\nfields, would abide by the changes.<\/p>\n
Richards said on the sidelines of the Indonesia-Australia
\nBusiness Council business forum that BHP would not take any
\nposition in the current development concerning East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"It depends on each sovereign country to rule on the fate of
\nthe Timor Gap Treaty. The position of BHP would be wherever we
\noperate, all across the world, we operate under the prevailing
\nlaw,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She said BHP had allocated A$130 million for the development
\nof the Timor gap project.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has said that there
\nwill be no changes in the legal status of the Timor Gap treaty,
\nunless East Timor got its independence.<\/p>\n
Indonesian ambassador to Australia Wiryono Sastrohandojo said
\nalso in Bali on Tuesday that should East Timor get its
\nindependence, the treaty should be renegotiated.<\/p>\n
\"If they get independence, that (the Timor seabed boundary)
\nshould be re-measured, which one belongs to West Timor, which one
\ngoes to East Timor. Automatically that (the treaty) will change.
\nMaybe, they (East Timor) will make their own treaty with
\nAustralia, or tri-parties, I don't know,\" Wiryono added. (rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/timor-gap-no-bonanza-downer-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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