Timor Sea Resources

The 1972 maritime boundary agreed between Australia and Indonesia was based on the assumed Australian Continental shelf and thus gave Australia the lion’s share of the resources of the Timor Sea.  Nowadays, international convention and practice decides that disputed maritime borders are negotiated on the median line principle, that is, what lies on our side of a half-way line is ours, and what is on the neighbour’s side of the half-way line is theirs.  All the areas in the Timor Sea resources dispute are on the Timorese side of a half-way line between the two nations.  There is no discussion about what lies on Australia’s side of the median line; naturally, those rich areas are accepted as belonging to Australia. Part of the 1972 border was missing because Portugal refused to be party to the discussions, hence the “Timor Gap”.  In 1989, Indonesia and Australia shared this area 50/50.   In 2002, the Timor Gap Treaty was renegotiated with the newly-independent Timor-Leste and the old Timor Gap area was shared differently, with 90% going to Timor and 10% to Australia.  The area remains 100% on Timor’s side of the median.  Disputed areas (shown in blue on the map below) lie on either side of the JPDA (the area of the old “Gap”), their area determined with reference to geographical realities in the adjoining land masses.  Significant oil and gas fields are contained within these areas, including Laminaria-Corallina in the west and Greater Sunrise to the east.

The riches of Greater Sunrise are to be divided equally by Australia and Timor-Leste under the 2006 CMATS Treaty, (Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea) an improvement on the 82%-18% split which was Australia’s favoured position, the 82% ear-marked for Australia. Part of the agreement entails the decision that questions of maritime sovereignty will not be discussed for 50 years, i.e. when the fields are exhausted.  It seems that the means of production will be based in Darwin, so the bulk of the prosperity will come to Australia.   From the other disputed field mentioned here, Laminaria-Corallina, Australia has been receiving a million dollars a day in tax revenue since September 1999.  The total of these benefits is $1.3bn. Timor-Leste has received nothing from this area.  Australia evaded any appeal by the Timorese about these anomalies by withdrawing from the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and from the maritime jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.  These withdrawals were made just two months before the restoration of Timorese independence in May 2002.  The Timorese Government has received valuable advice from Norway, ensuring careful stewardship of the remaining oil and gas profits through the strict controls of a Petroleum Fund.