The ​Timor-Leste (East Timor) Oil & Gas Online Summit​, organised by IN-VR and under the endorsement of ANPM, Timor-Leste’s petroleum and minerals authority, took place on July 9, bringing together international investors together with the government, IOCs and key service providers.

The summit was sponsored by SundaGas​, ​Pacific Towing​, ​Vieira De Almeida​, ​TIMOR GAP​, ​CGG​, ​GLJ and ​Clifford Chance​.

H.E. Dr. Victor da Conceicao Soares, Minister of Petroleum and Minerals opened the summit welcoming investors and operators. He was followed by Dino da Silva, President of ANPM, who gave an overview of Timor-Leste’s 2nd Licensing Round, and Timor-Leste’s onshore and offshore opportunities.

“A very friendly tax system with relatively low tax rates [is offered] when compared with the average that we see not only in South East Asia, but in the world , when compared not only with the rest of South-East Asia, but even worldwide. It is clearly one of the most competitive countries in the world for the industry,” said ​Joao Afonso Fialho​, Partner and Head of Oil & Gas, VdA in his presentation on Timor-Leste’s investment environment.

“We are very nicely positioned in regards to infrastructure and transportation of gas. At the moment we are looking into having appraisal wells drilled in 2022,” noted Colin Murray, VP of Technical, Sundagas when discussing the Chuditch gas discovery and SundaGas’ progress within only one year of signing a PSC with Timor-Leste.”

“We look forward to establishing a similar relationship with Timor-Leste. In fact, it’s essential to the success of any marine business and essential to us. A strong relationship with the government is a critical component to our investments,” said ​Neil Papenfus​, General Manager of Pacific Towing, on comparing the company’s success in Papua New Guinea and investing in Timor-Leste.

“Timor-Leste has chosen the best solution, making access to its data free for interested investors, a model that works well for frontier countries,” commented Martin Bawden, Business Development Manager of Zebra Data, when asked about ANPM’s usage of their Virtual Data Room service.

ANPM, IOCs and investors renewed their meeting for the ​2nd Timor-Leste Oil & Gas Summit​ in Dili, Timor-Leste in 2021.