Voelte said Australia, which has several LNG projects under development or on the drawing board, could capitalise on problems in rival markets and speed ahead of key rivals if governments ensured favourable policy settings.

"It's all about Australia. They key fact is nobody is building LNG plants around the world for various reasons: everything from political tensions to just not having any gas left," The Australian quoted him as saying.

He noted that no new LNG plants had been built in Russia since Shell's investment in the Sakhalin project in the 1990s while Iran had "basically shut down" and civil unrest continued in Nigeria.

Voelte added that Yemen and Oman had "run out of gas" while Malaysia and Indonesia had reached "the end of the road".

On Australia's key rival, Voelte said Qatar's moratorium on expanding its exports until 2013 meant there would be no new production there for at least 10 years.

He warned the LNG industry in Australia had to manage risks such as worsening labour shortages, industrial relations and the federal government's plan to introduce a carbon tax, to avoid cost blowouts and delays.

"If Australia gets a reputation that they can't carry these projects off, these type of reputation issues can really damage an industry very quickly.

"It's amazing how large these project costs are and how marginal the economics can get."

However, Woodside may have to work a little harder to ensure it gets its share of the pie after East Timor's chief petroleum negotiator Francisco da Costa Moneiro said the country would seriously consider terminating its treaty with Australia that covers the Greater Sunrise LNG project if the dispute over development plans remained unresolved.

Moneiro told The Australian the East Timor government would take into account "all consequences" of ensuring Sunrise gas was piped to East Timor.

"Any treaty must ensure the two sides are happy, but at the moment Timor Leste is not happy and I speak not just as a commissioner, but for all Timor Leste citizens," he added.

The Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, which runs 50 years from February 2007, divides gas and condensate royalties from the Greater Sunrise field equally between Australia and East Timor.

Either country can terminate the treaty in February 2013 if there is no development approval.

Overturning the treaty will return the field to first-base negotiations and reopen the boundary dispute between the two countries.

East Timor has continually maintained that gas from the field, which has estimated reserves of 5.13 trillion cubic feet of gas and 226 million barrels of condensate, should be piped to its coast where an LNG plant would create jobs and anchor its industrialisation plans in the country's south.

However, project operator Woodside claims that while a pipeline across the deep Timor Trench is "technically feasible" it posed "technical, operational and commercial difficulties" and would cost $A5 billion more. The company and its partners have pushed for a floating LNG development instead.

Over in the Browse Basin, Woodside has reportedly offered to sell a stake in the Browse LNG project to Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co.

The Australian Financial Review reported the Japanese companies were approached about six months ago though it was unclear if Woodside was looking to reduce its 50% stake or had made the approach on behalf of its partners, Shell, Chevron and BHP Billiton.

It quoted Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett as saying that Mitsubishi president Ken Kobayashi and his Mitsui counterpart Masami Iijima had expressed interest in the project.

Meanwhile, Voelte has sold 40,000 Woodside shares, or 10% of his total interest in the company, and donated the proceeds to a not-for-profit educational organisation.