New Australian envoy to East Timor

Australia has appointed a new ambassador to East Timor, following a tense year in bilateral relations.

Peter Roberts, a career diplomat, will take up the posting replacing the outgoing Peter Doyle.

Australian-East Timorese relations were sensitive in 2017 as the two countries nutted out a deal to end a long-running maritime boundary dispute.

An agreement was reached in September and now the countries are negotiating the future carve-up of revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas reserve.

The fields are estimated to hold gas worth about $53 billion - almost 30 times East Timor's annual national income.