Timor-Leste Confident Australia Will Payback Millions in Oil Revenue

Australia will return 'millions of dollars' generated from oil fields under an international agreement, says former Timor-Leste president, Jose Ramos-Horta. In March 2018, Australia and Timor-Leste had signed the long-awaited treaty at the United Nations in New York, settling a formal maritime border between the two nations, after more than four decades of dispute. The treaty clearly defines which gas and oil fields belong to each country, with an area worth billions in a yet-to-be-mined gas field to be shared. The treaty confirmed Timor-Leste's ownership of several disputed fields, some of which have been depleted.

However, Australia has yet to ratify the treaty. It continues to claim a 10 per cent stake in an oil field that under the treaty now fully belongs to Timor-Leste. The Timor-Leste Governance Project said the field could have generated an estimated $60 million in the past 12 months. And it's worth almost two-thirds of the $96.1 million in aid Australia provided in 2017-2018.

Jose Ramos-Horta said Timor-Leste is losing on a monthly basis, millions of dollars. "I hope that Australia really considers in good faith and pays back the amount due to Timor-Leste as of the signing of the agreement in New York." The former president rejected suggestions that Australia had deliberately delayed ratification in order to continue to profit from the Timor-Leste owned oil field.

For decades, the two countries have been in dispute over the ownership of the highly prized oil and gas fields found in the Timor Sea. Despite the long-disputed status, Australia has mined several of these fields, some as far back as the 1960s. And now, three Timor Sea fields - Buffalo, Laminaria and Corallina are near depletion.