Gusmao said in parliament on Wednesday that if the President of the Republic Francisco Lu Olo Guterres vetoed parliament’s proposed law on petroleum fund change or 2019 general state budget – currently sitting with him – the government had “other alternatives to borrow money from to purchase ConocoPhillips and Shell Shares.”

On December 14, Lu Olo first vetoed a government bid to increase access to its petroleum fund for investment in energy projects, potentially delaying a US$650 million buyout of Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips’s holdings in the Greater Sunrise gas project.

The decree would remove a 20 percent cap on state participation in oil projects and would allow Sunrise and other oil and gas projects to bypass approvals by parliament.

On January 11 parliament approved to push the petroleum law change again.

During this vote, members of the Fretilin party staged a walkout in parliament in protest of the government’s bid to increase access to the nation’s petroleum fund for investment in energy projects, declaring the bid “illegal”. 

The President now has 30 days to enact or veto the bill.

Mari Alakatiri, the leader of the Fretilin opposition party, has said his party supports the development of the Greater Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea, but wants to ensure it is done in a sustainable way.

"Our position is more than clear. We are in favour of the development of Greater Sunrise but we are in favour of a sustainable development that benefits the people and that does not harm our people," said Alkatiri told Lusa news this week.
Alkatiri has accused Gusmao of wanting to "manipulate public opinion" about this subject matter.
Gusmao, has repeatedly defended the government’s purchase of majority ownership in the Greater Sunrise consortium as "in the interest of the state.”

Previously Timor-Leste has borrowed money to fund road and infrastructure projects.

Responding to Gusmao’s comments in parliament, Antonino Bianco from the Fretilin party, called on the government to clarify which bank it sought to borrow funds from, the interest level and how long the loan would take to pay off.

Bianco said while the plan was a matter for the government, any State borrowing should follow strict regulations and be guaranteed.

"Any loan from the National Parliament must know because this is related to national interests, therefore we must involve all parties," Bianco said.

At the time of Lu Olo’s first veto decision, a Shell spokesperson told Reuters that the company had been advised by the Timor-Leste government of “a number of options available for funding the transaction” and was committed to completing the process with it. 

A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips Australia also said the veto “is not necessarily the end of the process and our agreement recognises time may be required for this important process.”