Brazil's Petrobras plans to establish partnership with East Timor authorities
[ 2009-11-25
]
Dili, East Timor, 25 Nov – Brazilian state oil company Petrobras plans to become a partner of the future Timor national oil and gas company, the Brazilian ambassador to east Timor said in Dili Tuesday.
Speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa, Ambassador Edson Duarte Monteiro said that Petrobras’ operation in East Timor could drive the economic component in relations between the two countries, “which currently does not exist because there are no Brazilian companies in Timor.”
“There was an initial visit to Timor by Petrobras, in August of last year, after the visit by Lula da Silva, which was no coincidence: In talks with the Timorese authorities there was discussion of Timor’s energy potential and the contribution that Petrobras could make to its exploration,” the diplomat told Lusa.
“In technical terms, Brazil could have something to say in these areas, in that it already has great experience in the areas of tapping into oil and gas,” he said.
The government of East Timor wants to create an industrial “corridor” to support and develop oil and gas exploration, with projects covering three cities: Suai, Betano and Beaco.
From Timor’s point of view Australia’s Northern Territory should continue to be the big platform for the gas fields in the south of the Timor Sea, but the platform for gas in the north should be located on the coast of East Timor, closer to the exploration activities and in an area where there is oil and gas with potential to be drilled in the future.
Timor’s projects include a supply base in Suai, a refinery and petrochemical hub in Betano and a natural gas processing plant in Beaco. (macauhub)
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