US$16 billion ‘hoax’: reports of Chinese loan for East Timor gas project were politically motivated, says foreign minister

East Timor is looking for international partners to finance its Greater Sunrise gas project, tapping some of the country’s last remaining resources

Foreign ministers from both countries have been talking about cooperating in the petrochemical industry

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Timor Leste foreign minister Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares. Photo: Media DKS-MNEK

Published: 11:00am, 23 Aug 2019Updated: 9:16am, 24 Aug 2019

East Timor wants to cooperate with China in the oil and gas industry, but reports that Dili would borrow US$16 billion from China’s Export-Import Bank to finance one such project were a “hoax”, the country’s Foreign Minister Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares declared.

Reports of the loan were “blown up by politically motivated people around the region”, Soares said, adding that East Timor actually needs much less to tap some of its last remaining oil and gas resources in the offshore Greater Sunrise field.

The country is also considering other partners, he said on Monday in an exclusive interview with This Week in Asia.

“Timor-Leste is calculating the different values presented in the market and will make the decision about our partners without jeopardising our own economy,” he said.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Timor-Leste's Foreign Minister Dionisio da Costa Babo Soares in Bangkok. Photo: Xinhua

The government’s plan for the project includes an undersea pipeline to the island’s south coast, which it hopes to turn into a petroleum processing hub.

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