Alexander Downer and Ana Pessoa signed in Dili, on 6 March 2003, the Agreement between Australia and Timor-Leste relating to the Unitisation of the Sunrise and Troubadour Fields. Two originals, English only authentic. ATS numbers it [2007] 11; Australia registered it with the United Nations as 56177.

The Greater Sunrise deposit crosses the eastern limit of the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) under the Timor Sea Treaty (20 May 2002). Article 2: the agreement is without prejudice to maritime delimitation, still open at the date of signature. This is not a drilling, quota or tax-evasion handbook.

Article 7 takes over the ratio in Annex E of the Timor Sea Treaty: 20.1 per cent of production attributed to the JPDA, 79.9 per cent to Australia. Within the JPDA, Timor-Leste received 90 per cent of revenues. Article 8 allows technical redetermination. Article 3 requires integrated exploitation of the unit reservoirs, before production.

Article 27: entry into force on the day the parties notify each other that domestic requirements are met — 23 February 2007, together with CMATS. Amendment or termination at any time, in writing. After a permanent seabed delimitation, the terms are to be reconsidered, with equivalent continuity for activities already entered into.

Article 26: disputes are settled by consultation, then expert or arbitration. Annex I delineates the unit area; we do not reproduce coordinates. Joint regulatory authorities administer the area. The 2018 maritime-boundaries treaty ended the IUA on 30 August 2019, when it entered into force.

CMATS later equalised upstream revenues, reading the IUA together with the Timor Sea Treaty. Greater Sunrise remained commercially undeveloped in the years immediately after. This is not a handbook of current Timor Sea negotiations.

Cover: the Government Palace in Dili, a civic building of the signing city, not the table. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Sunrise International Unitization Agreement; Agreement relating to the Unitization of the Sunrise and Troubadour fields (UN DOALOS).