Australia slammed for Timor gas deal
Australia slammed for Timor gas deal
Agencies
Sydney, Australia
Canberra was accused on Monday of robbing East Timor of billions
of dollars after parliament signed off on a controversial treaty
with the impoverished nation covering oil and gas reserves in the
Timor Sea.
Parliament passed legislation on Monday allowing Australia and
East Timor to share revenue from a Timor Sea gas and oil field in
a deal that a Greens lawmaker said robs one of the world's
poorest nations of vital revenue.
Australia would take about 80 percent and East Timor 20
percent of royalties from the Greater Sunrise field, which some
analysts say could hold A$40 billion Australian (US$30 billion)
in gas and oil.
The treaty relates to development of resources in the Greater
Sunrise field, valued at A$7.0 billion ($5.2 billion), by world
energy giants Woodside, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas.
It is expected to generate revenue of A$10 billion over its
three- to four-decade life and will create at least 3,000 jobs
during construction.
But the Australian government has come under fire from Dili
and left wing politicians at home because the treaty gives
Canberra interim rights to 82 percent of revenues until the two
countries settle where their maritime boundary should fall.
Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with
Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would
give it the lion's share of the reserves.
But Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in
exchange for Canberra's recognition of its annexation of East
Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two
countries, in line with standard international practice.
Canberra has already issued exploration licenses in the
disputed area, a move criticized by Dili and Australian left-wing
Greens Senator Bob Brown.
"We're going to rob the poorest country in Southeast Asia to
line the pockets of the government and the oil companies of the
richest country," Brown said.
Brown was joined in his opposition by members of the
Australian Democrats.
"It is ironic that the Australian government played such a
crucial role in helping East Timor achieve legal independence but
is now acting like bushrangers for oil," said the Democrats'
Senator Natasha Stott Despoja.
Bills mirroring the Australian legislation are expected to
pass the East Timor parliament after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri
said his government was committed to honoring the agreement.
But his government has taken Australia to task for issuing
licenses in the disputed Timor Sea areas, which are the subject
of talks to resume next month, and for refusing to agree a
timeframe to settle the border issue.
Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law
of the Sea in March 2002 before the dispute reached the arbiter.