Abstract

This paper looks at the history of oil and gas exploration in East Timor (Timor Leste). There are five distinct phases: the period 1893 to 1928, when small scale oil recovery operations were undertaken near Laclubar and Aliambata; the 1920's and 1930's, when Timor Oil and others were influenced by political events; the 1950's to mid 1970's, a phase in which Timor Oil was particularly active; the Indonesian period, in which exploration switched to the offshore, and the new era of Independence. In spite of the political perturbations, Timor Oil alone drilled over 20 onshore wells in the period 1911 to 1975, acquired marine data off the southern coast and conducted intensive field work over an extended period, the driver being the 30 or more oil and gas seeps known from the Permian and Mesozoic strata, from the Bobonaro Scaly Clay and from the Viqueque Formation and coastal alluvium. In the period subsequent to 1974 larger companies such as the Woodside-Burmah consortium, Adobe and others became involved as attention switched to the offshore.

Presented at: 2005 South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX) Conference, Singapore, 2005