East Timor asks Petronas to develop Sunrise gas field

East Timor has approached Malaysian state oil firm Petronas to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field, a top Petronas official said. Earlier, East Timor rejected a plan by Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum and its partners to develop the field without developing an onshore plant to liquefy the gas, saying it might approach Petronas instead.
"We have been advising them on how the development of gas resources should take place," Petronas President and Chairman Hassan Marican told. "They (East Timor) approached us and we are studying it."

Developers must get approvals from the Australian and East Timor governments to develop the Sunrise field that is estimated to hold 5.13 tcf of gas and 226 mm barrels of condensate, according to a treaty signed in 2007.
East Timor's preference for Petronas is a sign that relations between Dili and Woodside have soured. The East Timor government has said that all negotiations have stopped since Woodside shortlisted the development plans. Woodside has publicly said that negotiations with the government were progressing as planned. Woodside owns about 33 % of Sunrise, while ConocoPhillips has a 30 % stake. Woodside's 34 %-shareholder Royal Dutch Shell owns 27 % and Osaka Gas holds 10 %.

Sunrise
The Sunrise Gas Development lies in the Timor Sea north of Australia and includes the Sunrise and Troubadour fields. The joint venture has spent more than A$ 350 mm on exploration, appraisal, marketing, technical and commercial feasibility studies since the fields were discovered in the mid-1970s.
Following ratification of key agreements between Australia and Timor-Leste in February 2007, Woodside re-staffed the project and undertook a study to identify the preferred development options for Greater Sunrise.

In 2008, Woodside discussed the results of the concept screening work with the Australian and Timor-Leste regulators. Development options under consideration include a brownfields expansion of the Wickham Point Bayu Undan LNG plant at Darwin and a Floating LNG option.
Development is contingent on the project receiving legal, regulatory and fiscal certainty from the Timor-Leste and Australian governments.