new east timor boss gets tough on woodside

BROWSE DELAYED

EAST TIMOR NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT REMAINS FIRM ON COMMITTMENT TO HIS CONSTITUENTS ON SUNRISE GAS PROJECT

Irrespective of the amount of gas coming out of Pluto, and hopefully Pluto 2 in the future, one has to wonder what will become of Woodside's massive gas reserves at Browse and Sunrise

With Browse being delayed by at least another year and the territorial issues with Sunrise, the new boss at Woodside definitely has his work cut out


Below is an extract taken from a news story on the internet


New East Timor president to take tough stance on boundary issues Michael Bachelard
April 18, 2012

DILI: Australia can expect a more aggressive line from East Timor's new president Taur Matan Ruak over maritime boundaries and oil and gas revenue, after he described Australia's approach to these issues as ''always a problem''.


During the campaign, Mr Ruak was asked what he thought East Timor could do to decide the issue of unresolved maritime boundaries with Australia and Indonesia. ''I will continue discussion,'' Mr Ruak responded. ''I see Australia is always a problem in negotiations because they want to get a bigger percentage. Most of their agreements depend just on political, not legal negotiations.''

The president has no direct power to negotiate such issues but he can use his influence to set the tone of the debate.

In East Timor, Australia is widely regarded to have bullied the smaller country out of oil and gas revenues by refusing to agree to a maritime boundary in accordance with international law, instead negotiating revenue sharing agreements in 2002 and 2006.