Timor Resources has been granted the first onshore exploration permits. The enterprise will start drilling in Q4 this year, after the environmental approval for drilling is issued by the Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo e Minerais (ANPM), the public institution that is responsible of managing and regulating petroleum and mining activities in Timor-Leste.
Lake House is a private investment company which invests in businesses across the globe at every stage, and is involved in projects and investments of more than US$15 billion across 15 countries. The company is founded by Hong Kong native Charles Brown, who is also chairman of emeritus and founding board member of the United Nations Peace Development Foundation in China. He previously donated masks to Spain, Germany and France.
Lake House Group - through its subsidiary Eastern Drilling Limited - participates in oil and gas service industry in Timor-Leste. Drilling is planned on the south coast, which are the first onshore wells drilled in 50 years, as the last onshore well was drilled in 1972, the company writes in its press release. However, plans have ‘been delayed due to COVID 19 and the obstacles created by the pandemic, travel restrictions and supply chain disruption,’ the enterprise says. Mr Brown wanted ‘to help as the country re-opens,’ believing that ‘the widespread adoption of masks is perhaps the simplest and lowest cost intervention for stopping the spread of the virus and getting people back to work safely.’
Timor Resources commended Timor-Leste for its ‘world class responses’ to the corona-crisis having controlled the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Timor Resources wants to start drilling, but ‘our immediate priority must be the health and safety of our employees and the wider community,’ says Timor Resources. 92 Timorese have been recruited for skilled and unskilled positions to work on the rig location for the duration of the drilling operations.