Sunrise LNG gets a boost after Australia, East Timor agree on maritime border

Australia and East Timor have reached a new agreement on a maritime border, boosting the prospects for the Woodside-operated multi-billion Greater Sunrise LNG project.

The two countries have reached agreement on a treaty which “delimits the maritime boundary between them in the Timor Sea and addresses the legal status of the Greater Sunrise gas field, the establishment of a Special Regime for Greater Sunrise, and a pathway to the development of the resource,” a statement by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said on Monday.

Under the agreement, the share of revenue from the gas field will differ depending on downstream benefits that arise from “different development concepts”, the statement said following talks in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.

Having now concluded their respective domestic processes, the two governments will meet in New York at the United Nations headquarters on March 6 to sign the new maritime boundary treaty, it said.

The Sunrise LNG project stalled due to disputes between the two governments as East Timor (Timor-Leste) argued that a larger portion of the Greater Sunrise assets should be under its jurisdiction.

The Greater Sunrise fields were discovered in 1974 and hold gross contingent resources of 5.13 Tcf of gas and 225.9 million barrels of condensate, according to Woodside.

The Australian LNG player, together with its partners plans on developing the resources through the Sunrise LNG project in which it holds a 33.44 percent stake.

Other partners in the project are ConocoPhillips (30 percent) Shell (26.56 percent) and Osaka Gas with a 10 percent stake.

LNG World News Staff