GLOBAL energy giant Woodside Energy and the Timor-Leste government have agreed on a potential start date to carry out studies on the production of liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Greater Sunrise gas fields in the Timor Sea.
An official cooperative agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Timor-Leste (MPRM) includes plans to develop a Timor-based LNG concept (TLNG), which could begin production in seven years’ time.
Under the agreement, MPRM and Woodside are to conduct commercial and technical maturation activities for a Timor-based greenfield production plant.
It is also expected to include a helium extraction plant.
These activities are to run alongside the ongoing negotiation of the fiscal, regulatory and legal frameworks to support the upstream development of the Greater Sunrise fields.
Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said the arrangement would benefit all parties.
“This work is an extension of last year’s concept study and will address the remaining considerations required to reach concept selection, such as agreeing the most appropriate downstream commercial structure to attract financing and understanding the preferred route of the gas export pipeline,” she said.
The joint venture between Sunrise and the governments of Timor-Leste and Australia aims to produce LNG at a rate of five million tonne a year.
Timor-Leste petroleum and mineral resources minister, Francisco da Costa Monteiro, said the agreement indicated both parties were united in bringing Greater Sunrise into production.
“The TLNG project presents the best economic, social, and strategic benefits for the people of Timor-Leste,” he said.
“We are committed to working constructively with Woodside, the Greater Sunrise joint venture and other parties to take the project forward and to make our vision for Greater Sunrise a reality.”
The Greater Sunrise fields are located about 450 km north-west of Darwin and 150 km south of Timor Leste.
It is made up of the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields.