BACK DOOR Newsletter on East Timor

Return East Timor's oil and gas revenue!

Fact sheets

2004 TSJC: Historical Background to the Timor Sea dispute  Info added 25 Aug 2004
"* Oil and gas worth more than US $30 billion lie under the Timor Sea, between East Timor and Australia, * 68% of the petroleum resources in the Timor Sea lie closer to East Timor than to Australia, and are claimed by East Timor under International Law * Under current revenue sharing arrangements, Australia takes 72% of the petroleum revenues in the Timor Sea, including almost 60% of the revenues from fields closer to East Timor than to Australia. " Timor Sea Justice Coalition, Australia

2004 TSJC: Area of Timor Sea dispute  Info added 25 Aug 2004
"If international law under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) were to be applied all of the Bayu-Undan, Greater Sunrise and Laminaria/Corralina reserves would fall within Timor Leste's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - within Timor Leste's maritime boundary." Timor Sea Justice Coalition, Australia

Indepth Analysis

Aug 2003 LHB: Timor Sea Historical Background  Article added 12 Feb 2004
"East Timor’s economic independence depends on the money the new nation can earn by selling its natural resources, especially the petroleum deposits which lie under the Timor Sea between East Timor and Australia. These fields, which contain oil and gas worth more than US$30 billion, lie closer to East Timor’s south coast than to any other land. However, due to a history of colonialism, invasion, occupation, and illegal activities by Indonesia and Australia, East Timor could receive less than half of the revenues it should be entitled to under the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)." La’o Hamutuk, East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis

Major Resources