CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Tuesday for a state visit as negotiations over lucrative gas resources reach a critical stage for his impoverished nation.
The East Timorese are gaining confidence that they can break a 20-year deadlock with the new Australian government over the development of Greater Sunrise, an estimated $50 billion in gas that lies beneath the seabed that separates the two countries.
Australia wants the gas to be piped to an existing liquefied natural gas export hub in its northern city of Darwin. East Timor expects more economic benefit for the half-island nation of 1.5 million people if Greater Sunrise energy is piped to the East Timorese south coast.
Australia and East Timor currently share revenue from the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea that has been piped to Darwin since 2006. But that field is expected to run dry this year.
Without further oil and gas revenue, East Timor’s $19 billion sovereign wealth fund could be spent within a decade, according to La’o Hamutuk, an East Timorese research institute.
Ramos-Horta, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with East Timorese Bishop Carlos Belo for their efforts to end the conflict in their homeland, has suggested approaching new potential partners including China to finance an East Timor LNG plant.
Ramos-Horta has also suggested the Japanese, South Koreans, and Indonesians as potential partners.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Ramos-Horta’s visit that ends Sunday as an opportunity to deepen the two countries' relationship, as well as to explore avenues for strengthened cooperation both bilaterally and in the region.
“Australia is committed to supporting Timor-Leste’s economic development,” Albanese said in a statement, using East Timor’s Portuguese name.
Michael Leach, an East Timor expert at Melbourne’s Swinburn University, described East Timorese talk of international partners as an effort to leverage Australia to agree to an East Timorese gas hub.
“The big blocking point is whether it goes to Darwin or the south coast of Timor,” Leach said on Tuesday.
“What’s going to happen is anyone’s guess,” Leach added.
A joint venture partner in Greater Sunrise, Australian company Woodside Energy, has raised technical concerns about piping the gas to East Timor. While the gas field is much closer to East Timor than to the Australian coast, the route to Darwin is through the much shallower water.
The other partners are East Timorese state-owned company Timor Gap, which holds a 56% stake, and Japanese company Osaka Gas, which holds 34%.
Woodside said its current focus was on finalizing a production sharing contract for Greater Sunrise.
“Woodside remains committed to the development of Greater Sunrise provided there is fiscal and regulatory certainty necessary for a commercially viable development to proceed,” the company said in a statement.