East Timor lays claim to disputed gas reserve in Timor Sea

East Timor lays claim to disputed gas reserve in Timor Sea

Agence France-Presse
Darwin, Australia

East Timor will claim the entire Greater Sunrise oil and gas
reserve to which Australia has already staked its claim, East
Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri warned here Monday.

He told the South East Asia-Australia Offshore Conference that
Canberra had agreed to discuss new maritime boundaries between
the two countries which were not settled by the yet to be
ratified Timor Sea Treaty.

"Our claim is very clear," Alkatiri told reporters in Darwin.
"It applies to current international law.

"Sunrise should be 100 percent East Timorese. This is the
point. That's where we are, but we are open to negotiation."

The treaty signed by Australia and East Timor gives East Timor
90 percent of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea that lies
between the two nations. But it does not draw the sea boundaries
and does not include the largest reserve, Greater Sunrise.

Australia has claimed 80 percent of the disputed field which
lies in Australian territorial waters, but has agreed the
remaining 20 percent should be shared because it lies in a joint
petroleum development area.

East Timor contends that under modern law the boundary would
be drawn in a place that would mean all known reserves would be
in its jurisdiction.

In a unilateral move just weeks before the treaty was agreed,
Australia withdrew from the jurisdiction of the International
Court of Justice in relation to some maritime boundary issues.

The withdrawal was described by Alkatiri as "an unfriendly
act".

However, East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, who is
visiting Canberra with East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao, said
Monday that East Timor respected Australia's sovereign right to
make the unilateral withdrawal.

He also said his government had no intention of taking legal
action as a first step in the dispute.

"It was never an intention on the part of the East Timor side
to seek International Court of Justice intervention as a first
measure," Ramos Horta told reporters.

Ramos Horta said Gusmao had mentioned the dispute during
discussions with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, but only
in passing.

However, East Timor would open talks with Indonesia over
maritime boundaries. "Our position has been made very clear," he
said. "We intend to start negotiations with Indonesia very soon."