The liquefied natural gas export project proposed for the Timor Sea resources of the Greater Sunrise gas fields offshore northern Australia and the tiny nation of Timor-Leste is to be the subject of a concept selection programme after almost 20 years of delays.
The Greater Sunrise joint venture is majority controlled (56.56 percent) by the Timor-Leste national oil company, while Australian LNG producer Woodside Energy owns more than 33 percent and the balance of 10 percent is held by Japanese utility Osaka Gas.
Talks between Woodside, the Australian government and Timor-Este on the future of a Greater Sunrise LNG project have continued intermittently for years and have now reached a settlement point.
“The Sunrise joint venture will consider all of the key issues for delivering the gas, for processing and LNG sales, to Timor-Leste compared to delivering the gas to Australia,” explained the statement.
The Greater Sunrise gas fields are located about 150 kilometres (93 miles) off Timor-Leste and 450km northwest of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.
“In parallel to the concept select program, the joint venture is progressing the negotiation of the new Production Sharing Contract, Petroleum Mining Code and associated agreements with the Timor-Leste and Australian Governments, which upon finalisation will provide the fiscal and regulatory certainty required for a development to proceed,” the joint statement concluded.
Resources available
The resources of the Sunrise and Troubadour gas fields that would be developed contain contingent resource (2C) of 5.3 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 226 million barrels of condensate.
Woodside Energy Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said the development of new technologies and growing demand for safe and reliable LNG meant it was “the right time to bring forward the concept selection” programme.
“It is important we continue to look at ways to develop the Greater Sunrise fields using the latest technologies by evaluating, for example, modular LNG, that did not exist in the past,” explained O’Neill.
“Against a backdrop of global geopolitical instability and constrained energy supply chains, there is an opportunity for the Sunrise Joint Venture to significantly advance this regionally important project,” she stated.
Long awaited
Antonio de Sousa,, the President and Chief Executive of Timor-Leste’s state energy company, Timor GAP, said he was pleased that all the efforts had contributed towards realising the “long-awaited goal” of developing Greater Sunrise.
“This path forward is a significant commitment to our stakeholders, to the aspirations of those who made sacrifices to achieve independence for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and to the future of our people and Timor-Leste,” stated De Sousa.
“It offers a clearer path to prosperity, equality, peace, stability and sustainability for current and future generations,” he added.
The Managing Director of Osaka Gas Australia, Yo Otsuka, said it was important to assess and compare the development concepts “from both technical and commercial points of view to select the best option” for the success of the Sunrise project.
