E. Timor formally replaces Indonesia in Timor Gap

E. Timor formally replaces Indonesia in Timor Gap

CANBERRA (AP): East Timor has replaced Indonesia as Australia's partner in a treaty sharing the resource-rich Timor Sea bed, the Australian government announced late Thursday.

The same terms of the Timor Gap Treaty would continue to apply, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Resources Minister Nick Minchin said in a joint statement.

The Timor Gap, the sea between northern Australia and East Timor, currently has just one small oil field producing revenue of A$3 million to A$5 million a year, but a new field is expected to produce oil worth several tens of millions of Australian dollars by 2005.

The United Nations transitional administrator in East Timor has joined a new agreement on the treaty which will apply in the transitional period until full East Timorese independence.

"These arrangements will ensure a smooth transition for the treaty and provide the political confidence necessary for significant investments presently under consideration in the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation," the ministers said.

Indonesia last week agreed that following the endorsement of the East Timor independence ballot, the area covered by the treaty was outside Indonesia's jurisdiction and the treaty with Australia ceased to be in force.