<article><p class="lead">Australian independent Woodside Energy is considering both development options for the Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea, which are to pipe the gas to East Timor's southern coastline or to Australia's Darwin.</p><p>Sunrise is located in a maritime jurisdiction jointly administered by Australia and East Timor. Dili views Sunrise, which is the largest undeveloped gas resource within East Timor's jurisdiction, as a nation-building project that it will utilise to build downstream gas production infrastructure. </p><p>Woodside has traditionally preferred piping the Sunrise gas to Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, where two existing LNG projects exist. But a number of political developments this year have changed the prospects for Sunrise, from one that was consigned to a perennial deferred status to one that has some possibility if certain political and commercial agreements are made between the project partners and the two national governments.</p><p>"Sunrise has the potential to supply the long-term demand needs of the Asia Pacific region," Woodside executive vice-president of projects Matthew Ridolfi said. "We are looking at a pipeline to East Timor where a new LNG plant would have to be built, and we are looking at a pipeline to Darwin."</p><p>Woodside chief executive officer Meg O'Neill elaborated further about the Perth-based firm's change of mind over the prospect of piping the gas to East Timor. "A number of things have changed in LNG design since we last looked at development concepts," she said. "There has been a lot of advances in modular LNG construction methods and that is a possibility for building a liquefaction plant in East Timor." </p><p>"We also recognise that East Timor see Sunrise as an important project for their economy, and they also have a lot of international friends that would like to see a downstream LNG plant built on East Timor and so that has caused us to reconsider Sunrise's development concepts," O'Neill added.</p><p>The Australian federal government in October <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2381490">appointed special representative Steve Bracks</a> to oversee the development of the Sunrise gas project. The appointment marks an elevation in the status of the Sunrise project and follows the election of the ruling Labor government in Canberra in May. </p><p>Dili has a controlling 56.56pc interest in Sunrise after buying the stakes of Shell and ConocoPhillips for $650mn in 2018. Woodside has a 33.44pc stake, while the remainder is owned by Japanese utility Osaka Gas. Woodside is the project operator. Canberra is concerned that if Sunrise is not developed to the way Dili prefers it may seek assistance from China for the development of the 5.3 trillion ft³ (150bn m³) gas field project.</p><p>East Timor and Australia worked together in the development of the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea, which provides feedstock for the 3.7mn t/yr Darwin LNG plant. But Bayu-Undan is expected to halt output by the end of the year, according to its operator Australian independent Santos. This will consequently halt contributions from East Timor's largest revenue earner, with the country having built up $18bn in savings in its sovereign wealth fund mainly from taxes and royalties from Bayu-Undan. </p><p>The second liquefaction plant located at Darwin is the 8.9mn t/yr Ichthys LNG venture operated by Japanese upstream firm Inpex.</p><p class="bylines">By Kevin Morrison</p></article>
