THE government of Timor-Leste has finally enacted its long awaited onshore petroleum laws.

Currently Nepean subsidiary Timor Resources is progressing its drilling campaign in the south of the country searching for oil in a ten-well campaign after a busy 2D seismic acquisition campaign last year. 

The law has been pending promulgation since February last year in the small, politically tumultuous nation.

The law is not just crucial for operations already underway by Timor Resources but also for the current bidding round that ends in October. 

The offer, which has 11 offshore and seven onshore blocks up for grabs, is the first since 2005, and was launched at its inaugural oil and gas conference in capital Dili last October,  and is set to close this October. Since then the nation's top oil and gas officials have been on the conference circuit trying to drum up interest. 

For the first time several onshore blocks are being offered in the frontier areas in the north of the country, though data is sparse. 

According to Miranda Partners, a Portuguese law firm active in the country, "The new rules cover all petroleum operations carried out onshore Timor-Leste, under the Petroleum Activities Law, from exploration, appraisal, development and production to abandonment, including the transport, processing and storage of crude oil and natural gas in an upstream context."

The law, Decree-Law No. 18/2020, will also apply to onshore facilities that service offshore operations. 

There are specific rules on operations, safety and local content.

Other provisions also include land access, relationships with local communities, and the installation and later abandonment of pipelines  

The laws will come into force 90 days after being published in the nation's official gazette.

Timor Resources  is hunting for oil on the south coast, home to several historic wells and some oil seeps and plans an eventual 10-well campaign , with five wells this year in one permit it operates under a production sharing contract arrangement with the Dili government and five more in its other permit in early 2021. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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