Australia upbeat on Timor Sea talks

Australia upbeat on Timor Sea talks

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Australia is approaching negotiations to divide revenues from natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea with "a feeling of good will, a feeling of being generous," Daryl Manzie, Minister of Resources for the Northwest Territories, said Tuesday.

"Indonesia and Australia have expressed concerns about stability, but we are working together...Stability concerns don't affect gas reserves in the Timor Sea, where 3.4 trillion cubic feet are in the Zone of Cooperation but almost 40 trillion cubic feet lie outside the Zone," Manzie said, in response to a question on security in the region.

While East Timor and Australia have already agreed to divide royalty and tax revenues from petroleum production in the Zone of Cooperation A, they have not yet concluded negotiations for revenues from natural gas production.

"We don't know if negotiations will bring up 60 percent/40 percent (in East Timor's favor) or 50 percent/50 percent, but Australia is not reluctant to discuss that," Manzie said, speaking at the sidelines at the three-day Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference, or APPEC, that ends Wednesday.