"Kerryn Offord" wrote in message
...


Well.. East Timor doesn't have billions of dollars worth of oil... that
always makes a difference.

Well actually it does.

The Bayu-Undan field alone contains proven reserves of 102 billion cubic
meters
(3.6 trillion cubic feet) of gas and associated hydrocarbon liquids,
the equivalent of about a billion barrels of oil.

Production and sale of the liquids is due to start in late 2003 or early
2004.
In phase two of the project, the group plans to pipe the gas onshore for
sale in Australia and export it to Asian markets in the form of LNG,
liquefied natural gas.

The East Timor zone is divided into three areas.

Area C, at the northern end, was administered
by Indonesia but is now being taken over by the UN on behalf of East Timor.

Area B, at the southern end, will remain under Australian control under the
terms on an agreement signed with Indonesia.

Area A, in the middle of the zone and accounting for about half its area,
was
administered by a joint Australian-Indonesian authority, which is now
becoming
a joint Australian-UN authority, with the UN acting for East Timor.

Taxes are split 50-50, after producing firms have recovered their costs.
The Bayu-Undan field is in Area A.

Keith