East Timor sees Australia oil pact soon
East Timor sees Australia oil pact soon
UNITED NATIONS (Dow Jones): East Timor hopes to sign a revenue sharing agreement with Australia for oil and natural gas production in the Timor Sea within two months, a senior East Timorese official said on Friday.
"We believe it is in our common interest to reach an agreement sooner for the benefit of the Northern Territory of Australia and, in particular, for the people of East Timor who need more of those revenues," Jose Ramos Horta told the UN Security Council.
East Timor stands to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually from energy production in a 75,000-square- kilometer area in the Timor Sea.
Representatives from Australia and East Timor have been negotiating how to split the revenue. Australia has reportedly offered an 85 percent share of revenue to East Timor, while East Timor is pressing for 90 percent.
Energy companies operating in the area have expressed concern about a lack of progress in the negotiations, saying investments could be delayed or stopped.
The agreement will "enable investors to begin to lay down the construction for pipelines to bring the gas from the Timor Sea to Australia's Northern Territory," Horta said.
The next round of talks is later this month in Dili, East Timor. "Work will begin on drafting the text of the treaty," Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Hedi Annabi, told the council.
Horta met with Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier this week and asked for U.S. assistance in developing the territory's economy and legal system. On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a foreign relations authorization act that includes funds to support reconstruction in East Timor.
The UN has governed the territory since a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia, which invaded and occupied East Timor in 1975.
East Timor remains under UN administration and elections for an 88-member constituent assembly are planned for August. The assembly is expected to become East Timor's first elected parliament when independence is formalized next year.