Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund

The Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund (Portuguese: Fundo petrolífero de Timor-Leste) is a sovereign wealth fund into which the surplus wealth produced by East Timor petroleum and gas income is deposited by the East Timorese government.[1]

The Fund was established in 2005 with an opening balance of $205 million.[2] By 31 December 2010, the capital of the fund had grown to US$6.9 billion.[3] By December 2021 the fund had US$18.5 billion in assets under management.[4]

The Fund has signed up to the Santiago Principles on best practices for managing Sovereign Wealth Funds, and has joined the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.[5] The Fund thus now regularly publishes how it adopts and implements the principles espoused by these associations, including how it incorporates them in its governance procedures.

Finances

Earnings of the fund were around 4% in the 5 years to July 2011.[6] A key milestone was achieved in June 2014 when the equity allocation in the fund reached 40%. The Petroleum Fund returned 3.3% in 2014, or 2.5% after inflation. The fund's end-of-year balance in 2014 was $16.5 billion.[7]

Year	Balance in mil. USD-$	Revenues in mil. USD-$	Investment Returns in mil. USD-$	Withdrawals in mil. USD-$
2018[8]	15,804	447	–460	983
2020[9]	18,905	326.1	1,773	886.3

References

1. Petroleum Fund Annual Report 2008
2. "::. Abp | Bpa .::". Archived from the original on 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2011-02-18. Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste
3. https://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/PetFund/Reports/PFQR10q4en.pdf Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste Quarterly Report 31 December 2010
4. "Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund (Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund) - Sovereign Wealth Fund, East Timor - SWFI". www.swfinstitute.org. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
5. International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds. "Our members". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
6. Dagens Næringsliv, 2011-07-30 page 24 by Morten Haabeth Grindaker
7. Petroleum Fund Annual Report 2014
8. Petroleum Fund Annual Report 2018
9. Timor Leste Petroleum Fund Annual Report 2020