The Timor Gap is an area of the Timor Sea between Australia and Timor Island. The island is divided between independent East Timor and West Timor province of Indonesia. The Timor Gap is part of the Australia-East Timor border, Australia-Indonesia border, and East Timor–Indonesia border. It is 480 km (300 statute miles) wide. History Australia and Indonesia negotiated the border in 1972 and the Timor gap is part of the line they could not define because Portugal, who governed colonial East Timor then, declined to participate in the negotiations until the conclusion of UNCLOS negotiations, due to the extremely complex nature of both international law and the complex geographical problems posed. Timor Gap Treaty Australia and Indonesia each posed different delimitation boundaries on their borders, while Portugal chose to abstain until a formal determination of an appropriate method for delimitation could be discerned. East Timor was later invaded and annexed by Indonesia in 1975. This annexation was not recognised by the UN, the people of Timor nor by the Portuguese, who continued to see it as an illegally occupied territory. In 1989 despite more than a decade of brutal Indonesian occupation, Australia and Indonesia agreed that Indonesia's ongoing occupation of Timor removed the need to include Portugal in any further negotiations and went on to bilaterally negotiate the Timor Gap Treaty. On 30 August 1999 a UN sponsored referendum saw East Timor chose independence. On the 19th of January 2000 The UN Temporary Administration agency for East Timor UNTAET signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Australia to maintain the existing border agreement with Australia so as to allow continued development of the Timor Gap to ensure the financial future of the new country. The decision to maintain the historical agreement with Australia that had been negotiated by Indonesia caused great frustration to many Timorese. Numerous negotiations to determine the ownership of the tens of billions of dollars' worth of oil and gas located on the seabed of the Timor Sea, including completing the undefined boundary known as the Timor Gap, were held between Australia and East Timor from 2002 onwards. During this time Australia and international oil companies were accused of pressuring East Timor to accept a petroleum revenue-sharing formula while deferring permanent boundary resolution and foregoing legal avenues. Timor Sea Treaty On its independence day, East Timor signed the Timor Sea Treaty with Australia. This treaty practically puts East