Could Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta use his trip to Western Australia next month to try to convince Woodside it should build the Greater Sunrise LNG plant in the South East Asian nation? His rhetoric in the lead up to the visit certainly suggest so.

And Woodside might also be warming to the idea.

"We have much lower labour costs, much lower tax, and much lower government intrusion in oil and gas than Australia does," Ramos-Horta  told The Australian newspaper

"Australia has a federal, a state, a territory, a regulation, you have very complex environmental regulations, heavy tax, heavy labour costs. "It's much cheaper to do it here than in Darwin. Australia has endless sources of gas and oil, it doesn't need the gas from Greater Sunrise to also go to Darwin.

"It's only fair that Greater Sunrise comes to East Timor for the development of our country, for the future of this country, for peace, for stability." 

Greater Sunrise

The Greater Sunrise fields are located approximately 450km northwest of Darwin and 150km south of Timor-Leste.

Following the establishment of a maritime boundary treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste in 2019, negotiations have been slow and ponderous between the two governments and the Sunrise Joint Venture (comprising TIMOR GAP (56.56%), operator Woodside (33.44%), and Osaka Gas Australia (10%)). 

In 2023 arrangements for the JV to conduct a concept study for the potential development was agreed to consider the key issues for developing, processing and marketing gas via both Timor-Leste and Australia. 

However, a deep trough between Timor-Leste and the gas fields has made the idea of siting processing facilities in Timor-Leste a more technically complex one.

Warming to the idea

At next month's Australian Institute of International Affairs for Western Australia's annual Christmas shindig – helpfully co-organised with Woodside –Ramos-Horta will be able to appeal directly to the energy giant's bosses to choose Timor Leste over Darwin as the location for the Greater Sunrise project's LNG processing facilities.

With Woodside growing increasingly vocal about the challenges of investing in Australia, they might be receptive to the idea.

As reported by ENB earlier this month, Woodside seems to be stepping up engagement with Timor-Leste, hosting senior officials in WA after assessing potential processing sites along Timor-Leste's south coast.

Similarly, a Woodside delegation recently visited Timor-Leste to examine the government's preferred site at Natarbora for an LNG plant and a proposed supply base at Suai. 

In its most recent quarterly report, Woodside said it remained engaged with both the Timor-Leste and Australian governments "to evaluate and address technical and commercial factors that support the intended development of the fields" and had visited a potential LNG plant location on Timor-Leste's southern coast.

Industry observers view the recent site visits as a sign that momentum is returning to a project seen as central to Timor-Leste's post-Bayou-Undan economic future. 

Analysts say Woodside's engagement signals the company's willingness to explore all options that balance national aspirations with commercial feasibility.

A deal on the table

For his part, Ramos-Horta believes his country is "a month or two" from an agreement with Woodside and its JV partners to bring the gas to Timor-Leste with an LNG plant on his own soil.

A spokesperson for Woodside said they are committed to the development of Greater Sunrise in a timely manner and remains engaged with both the Timor-Leste and Australian governments, as well as the Sunrise Joint Venture participants, to evaluate and address technical and commercial factors that support the intended development of the fields.

"Following Woodside's visit to Timor-Leste's south coast as a potential location for processing Sunrise gas, a reciprocal visit was hosted in Karratha and Perth for the Timor-Leste minister of petroleum and mineral resources and a senior Timorese delegation to demonstrate Woodside's LNG project execution skills and capabilities."

Watch out Meg – Ramos-Horta is coming to bend your ear.