E. Timor wants more than 85% of revenue from oil

E. Timor wants more than 85% of revenue from oil

DARWIN, Australia (AP): East Timor said Friday it wants more than 85 percent of the revenue from lucrative oil fields under the sea separating it from Australia.

The fledgling nation also wants jobs in Australia's most northern port city, Darwin, that flow from a A$1.5 billion pipeline to gas fields below the Timor Sea, East Timor economic affairs representative Mari Alkatiri said.

Alkatiri said negotiations this week with Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer over a new Timor Gap Treaty between the two nations had been very positive.

The Timor Sea petroleum and gas reserves were originally carved up 50-50 under a treaty Canberra negotiated with Indonesia in the 1980s and early 1990s. Indonesia gave up its place in the treaty after East Timor voted for independence in 1999.

The U.N. Transitional Authority in East Timor is negotiating a new treaty with Australia.

Alkatiri said Australia is prepared to give away 85% of the revenue from the oil fields to cement a new deal.

"Everybody knows that Australia has already offered 85-15," Alkatiri told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Friday. "But we still think that Australia (should give) much more."

He confirmed that a 90-10 split had been discussed in the course of negotiations.

"That's one option, but there are still others," he said.

Alkatiri said Australia stood to gain much more from the gas and oil fields below the Timor Sea, with two companies flagging plans to build a plant in Darwin to take gas from the area.

The plant is expected to create between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs, and East Timor wants some of them reserved for its nationals, Alkatiri said.