[TimorLesteStudies] Sao Tome, East Timor sign energy memorandum

[Goncalo Carneiro]

http://af.reuters.com/article/saoTomeNews/idAFLDE74H1VZ20110518


  Sao Tome, East Timor sign energy memorandum



SAO TOME May 18 (Reuters) - Sao Tome and Principe and fellow former 
Portuguese colony East Timor on Wednesday signed a three-year 
cooperation agreement focusing on oil and gas exploration between the 
two small island nations.

The deal is one of East Timor's first such agreements in Africa and 
underscores Sao Tome's efforts to seek partners to help it strike oil in 
the Gulf of Guinea, where results in its waters have so far disappointed.

Few details were available on the memorandum of understanding, which was 
signed by natural resource ministers from both countries, but officials 
said the two would exchange knowledge and work together on efforts like 
improving transparency in the sector.

Sao Tome hopes that it will strike oil like other Gulf of Guinea 
neighbours but results from fields drilled so far have disappointed and 
big explorers have shunned recent licensing rounds. [ID:nLDE71019H]

East Timor's oil and gas resources have helped rebuild the economy after 
the country was crippled by violence during its bid for full 
independence a decade ago.

But development has been slow and the country is embroiled in a row with 
Australia's Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX: Quote 
<http://af.reuters.com/stocks/quote?symbol=WPL.AX>) over the development 
of a gas field. (Reporting by Ricardo Neto; writing by David Lewis)


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