Sydney – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dismissed a claim Monday that Australia had been less than friendly towards East Timor, arguing it had been generous over sharing oil revenues from the Timor Gap.

"We're providing East Timor with 90 percent of the revenue and we're only getting 10 percent," he said. Under the previous Timor Gap treaty with Indonesia, revenue had been divided 50-50, Downer said, adding: "So we've been very generous to East Timor."

His comment followed a claim by East Timor Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri that Australia, which has led an international peacekeeping force in the fledgling nation, had committed an unfriendly act towards his country.

The diplomatic spat, which emerged on the eve of East Timor's first presidential election last weekend, revolves around negotiations between the two nations over rights to oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. The agreement will be converted into a treaty once East Timor becomes a nation on May 20.

But Alkatiri said the impending signature of the treaty dividing oil and gas reserve royalties was in doubt because of Australia's attitude. He said Canberra had unilaterally withdrawn from negotiations in the International Court of Justice to resolve a dispute over maritime boundaries, which would in turn affect East Timor's share from the lucrative Greater Sunrise field.

Under an arrangement agreed in July, 90 percent of royalties from the joint production area goes to East Timor and 10 percent to Australia. But only around 20 percent of Greater Sunrise falls within the joint production area and 80 percent lies in Australia's area, so East Timor would receive only 18 percent of royalties from Greater Sunrise output.

Alkatiri said East Timor was prepared to negotiate, but would not compromise on maritime borders. Downer said Australia hoped to sign the treaty once final technical details had been resolved.