East Nusa Tenggara demands share in Timor Gap revenue
East Nusa Tenggara demands share in Timor Gap revenue
JAKARTA (JP): East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet Alexander Tallo said on Thursday the people of his province had rights over oil and gas revenue from the seabed between Australia and Timor island.
The governor made the statement in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), following the allegation of Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer that Indonesia could no longer claim revenue from the area, which is called the Timor Gap, as the result of the breakaway of East Timor from Indonesia.
The Indonesian and Australian governments signed the Timor Gap treaty 1989 to jointly manage hydrocarbon resources in the area.
"Don't say we don't have any business there any longer. Alexander Downer may say that, but Alexander Tallo may say a different thing," the governor was quoted by Antara as saying.
He said the peoples of East Timor and NTT were part of an inseparable community. As such the natural resources in the island's waters also belonged to the people of NTT, which is on the western half of Timor island.
"If it (the area) was named the East Timor Gap, that could mean the people of west Timor do not have rights (over the area). But it is called the Timor Gap. That means it also belongs to west Timorese," he said.
Tallo said the central government, which was studying the Timor Gap issue, was expected to decide on the issue in the near future.
Little
Meanwhile, AFP quoted an Australian foreign trade expert as saying on Thursday that oil from under the Timor Sea is likely to provide only a few million dollars a year for East Timor's fledgling economy.
The Timor Gap currently has just one small oil field producing revenue of A$3-5 million (US$1.9-3.2 million) a year, department of foreign affairs and trade official Michael Potts told a parliamentary committee.
The profits are divided equally between Australia and Indonesia under the 1989 Timor Gap Treaty but following Jakarta's official acceptance of East Timor's independence, Canberra is expecting to share the profits with Dili.
Potts said a new field under the sea between northern Australia and East Timor was expected to produce oil worth several tens of millions of Australian dollars by 2005.
"We are not talking about an El Dorado," he warned. "The other prospect is, of course, that there will be further fields in the zone of cooperation. There is a considerable level of exploration."
Potts said Australia now wants a smooth transition of rights under the treaty from Indonesia to East Timor, adding that negotiations were underway between Australia, the United Nations and key officials in East Timor.
DFAT assistant secretary John Dauth said East Timor's long- term economic viability remained unclear.
"In the short and medium term they are certainly going to need a lot of assistance," he said. "We are going to be part of that, but not all of it." (jsk)