AUSSIES PLAN FIRST POST-TREATY TIMOR GAP EXPLORATION PERMITS

Australia in May will call for bids for the first exploration permits to be awarded under a joint administration agreement with Indonesia in the once disputed Timor Gap area. Interest in expected to be keen from multinational as well as Australian companies. The countries resolved a 10 year territorial dispute in the Timor Gas area by ratifying a treaty last year. The Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation Treaty Ministerial Council met in Denpasar, Bali, earlier this month to bring the treaty accords

Feb. 25, 1991

2 min read

Australia in May will call for bids for the first exploration permits to be awarded under a joint administration agreement with Indonesia in the once disputed Timor Gap area.

Interest in expected to be keen from multinational as well as Australian companies. The countries resolved a 10 year territorial dispute in the Timor Gas area by ratifying a treaty last year. The Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation Treaty Ministerial Council met in Denpasar, Bali, earlier this month to bring the treaty accords into force.

FIRST OFFERING

The first offering will be in the Australian administered Zone B, where permits were frozen when the dispute arose. Petroz NL, Perth, the only company still holding a permit in Zone B, has called for tenders for a seismic program in the area.

Other permits will be awarded later in the year under the Australian system of work permit applications, where companies indicate to government extent of their exploration plans for the nominated blocks.

Taxes on any resulting production will be split between the two governments. Bids for Zone A permits are likely to be called late this year.

They will be awarded under a form of production sharing contract and administered by a joint Australian-Indonesian authority with headquarters in Jakarta and technical directorate in Darwin.