The Timorese Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão, announced this Friday that East Timor increased the State Budget for 2025 by $650 million to advance the agreement that it hopes to sign soon with Australia on the Greater Sunrise.
“Because we believe that things are going well and because we know that there will be, when this [a assinatura do acordo] For that to happen, we have to start, that’s why we put the money” in the state budget for 2025, said the head of the Timorese Government, in an interview with the Lusa agency in Lisbon.
The proposed General State Budget (OGE) of East Timor for 2025, whose discussion will take place in the Timorese Parliament between November 6 and 25, amounts to 2.6 billion dollars (2.4 billion euros), which represents an increase of 650 million dollars (about 599.2 million euros) in relation to the 2024 OGE.
Xanana Gusmão did not clearly announce a date for the signing with Australia of the agreement, which has lasted for years, for the construction of a gas pipeline from Greater Sunrise, with both countries disputing the location of the respective terminal and refining.
“I can’t say exactly when [o acordo será assinado]on what day, but everything indicates that we are on the right path“said Xanana Gusmão.
The Timorese president, José Ramos Horta, announced “soon” in an interview with Agence France-Presse in September the signing of the agreement “to develop the large gas field.” “The agreement should probably be signed no later than November. It will be signed this year.“, he reinforced.
The condemnation of another now in Laos. , from where the Timorese prime minister departed for his week-long official visit to Portugal, which ends this Friday.
“I met with the Prime Minister [australiano Anthony] Albanese in March this year at the ASEAN summit in Melbourne and we didn’t go into the matter further, but we said, in political terms, that when we get the agreement, I would go to Canberra for an official visit and we would sign there. That was agreed in principle,” the Timorese official began explaining.
Now, before starting his visit to Portugal, Xanana met again with Albanese in Laos, at another ASEAN summit: “I must say that I was happy, since the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said that he continues to respect our wish, our policy. in relation to the Great Dawn,” he added.
Regarding the direction the gas pipeline will take, Xanana Gusmão stated that “it will go to Timor.” “This is our principle,” “with the Betano gas refinery in Suai,” he added.
Regarding the partition of costs and incomeThe Timorese Prime Minister said that he was not accompanied by his Minister of Petroleum and Mines, so he refused to respond: “This process is what took time to discuss”He argued and concluded: “that is ours.”
The Greater Sunrise exploration consortium – made up of Timorese company Timor Gap (56.56%), operator Woodside Energy (33.44%) and Osaca Gás Australia (10%) – announced in April that it was carrying out a study on the development of that offshore oil and gas field, 150 kilometers from Timor-Leste and 450 kilometers from Darwin.
The study is being prepared by Wood PLC, is expected to be completed by the end of this year and focuses on analyzing which option will provide the most significant benefit to the people of Timor-Leste, and will not provide recommendations to the consortium.
the project Greater Sunrise has been at an impasse for yearswith Dili defending the construction of a gas pipeline to the south of the country and Woodside, the second partner in the consortium, leaning towards a connection with the existing unit in Darwin.
Timor-Leste, Australia and the consortium have been negotiating the Mining Code for Petroleum Exploration, the Production Sharing Agreement and the Fiscal Regime, key documents for the legal and regulatory architecture that supports the development of Greater Sunrise and its respective commercial viability , as stipulated in the Maritime Boundary Treaty.
The permanent maritime boundary agreement between East Timor and Australia determines that Greater Sunrise, a shared resource, will have to be divided, with 70% of the revenue going to East Timor if the pipeline terminal is located in the country, or 80%, if processing goes to Darwin.
Source: Observadora
