This Month
Timor-Leste hands most new mining licences to Australian groups
The developing nation is thought to hold deposits of copper, gold, zinc and manganese, as well as rare earths and other critical minerals.
October 2024
Payman announces new party called Australia’s Voice
Fatima Payman says her party will be “fairer and more inclusive”; Gas project matter of economic survival for Timor-Leste. How the day unfolded.
June 2024
Meet the Timorese lawyer chasing Australian wind licences for Norway
A former refugee carried out of East Timor on her mother’s back has returned to Australia as country head of Norwegian energy giant Equinor to chase offshore wind licences.
October 2023
China card played on Australia’s Timor-Leste front porch
The task for Labor’s Pacific diplomacy is now to win back the lost ground in the independent sovereign state that Australia helped to found.
September 2023
Dili’s China deal gives two fingers to Canberra
Cynicism abounds in Timor-Leste’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with China, but the deal is designed to goad Australia.
August 2023
Timor-Leste is on the brink of failure
Australia’s most pressing foreign policy dilemma is hiding in plain sight in Timor-Leste. Falling revenues, stalled gas deals and idiosyncratic leadership are not a good brew for stability or fiscal viability.
Timor-Leste looks to grasp carbon storage revenues
Timor Gap head António de Sousa says carbon storage opens up new revenue for the impoverished nation, which has also been given fresh hope on the Sunrise gas project.
April 2023
Labor-Greens gas deal tips scales to East Timor on Sunrise project
The Labor-Greens deal that new gas projects be net zero plus regulatory interventions will make it harder for Woodside to pipe gas from the Timor Sea to Darwin.
February 2023
East Timor makes fresh play for Sunrise LNG plant
The big difficulties for offshore gas project approvals in Australia should count in Timor-Leste’s favour when it comes to Sunrise, the head of the national oil company said.
December 2022
East Timor urges PM to back Woodside’s shift on Greater Sunrise
East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta wants Anthony Albanese to publicly support an East Timor pipeline for the multibillion-dollar project.
October 2022
Steve Bracks tapped as envoy on East Timor-Woodside gas project
Former Victorian premier Steve Bracks has been appointed by the Albanese government as a special representative on a gas project involving East Timor and Woodside Energy.
September 2022
East Timor faces ‘fiscal cliff’ without gas project, IMF warns
East Timor’s political leaders want local onshore gas processing to boost employment and broader economic development.
Woodside gas deal would turn Dili into Dubai: Ramos-Horta
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is stepping up pressure on the Albanese government to help progress a project with Woodside.
East Timor needs Woodside gas deal: Wong
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says East Timor faces significant financial independence challenges, underlining the need to develop a new gas project in the Timor Sea.
Wong cautions East Timor on Beijing debt trap
Australia has boosted its aid package to East Timor as the two governments look for ways to “unstick” the Greater Sunrise gas project.
August 2022
Australia should back East Timor’s LNG dream and head off China
The China card is being played against us everywhere in the Pacific. What does the fight over LNG processing in East Timor tell us about how to deal with it?
Woodside CEO optimistic of Timor gas breakthrough
Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill is optimistic the visit by Foreign Minister Penny Wong to Timor-Leste this week will drive a breakthrough in negotiations.
Wong to push East Timor-Woodside gas deal
The Foreign Minister will visit East Timor and encourage its leaders to resolve a stand-off with Australian energy giant Woodside over a gas project.
East Timor plays the China card in Sunrise gas battle
If Australia’s Woodside won’t, China will - East Timor threatens to call on Beijing to get the Greater Sunrise gas piped to where it wants it.
East Timor warns Woodside over Sunrise gas project
The Minister for Petroleum has told Woodside and the Albanese government that fuel from the project must be piped to East Timor and that other countries are circling.