DILI: Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said on Wednesday (Sep 11) that a deal with Australia on a vast fossil fuel project seen as crucial to the tiny nation’s economic future will be struck by November.
Speaking to AFP at his residence in the capital Dili, the Nobel-winning leader said an agreement on the Greater Sunrise project – which aims to tap trillions of cubic feet of natural gas – would be signed within weeks.
Exploration has been stalled for years at the project, located in waters between the neighbouring countries, due to disputes over maritime boundaries and whether the gas should be refined in Australia or Timor-Leste.
“Soon we will sign an agreement with Australia on the development of Greater Sunrise. A decision will be made to develop the big gas field,” he said.
“The agreement should be signed no later than November, probably. It will be signed this year.”
Asia’s youngest nation, which secured independence in 2002, is trying to shore up the future of its nascent economy, which is heavily reliant on oil and gas reserves.
“China needs it, Japan, South Korea, they need it,” Ramos-Horta said of Greater Sunrise.
However, he said whether resources would be piped to Timor-Leste or Australia was still to be decided by both governments after an independent study.
“Why should it go to Darwin?” he said.
Project operator Woodside Energy also appeared to manage expectations in an investor call last month, saying “Sunrise has a lot of complexity … we’ve got a bit of work to do”.
Australian officials had been concerned that China could fund the project when there were already wider fears about Beijing’s expanding regional influence.
That includes Timor-Leste, which sits a few hundred kilometres off Australia’s northern coast.
Ramos-Horta said in a wide-ranging interview that relations with Canberra, tense for years over a spying scandal that became public in 2018, have been reset.
“The bugging was unkind. But … every country, they bug everybody else,” he said.
“So now we have great relations with Australia. Australia is a true friend, a great friend.”
