East Timor favours Australia over Chinese firms on major gas project, president says
05/02/2025 03:10
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Stalled Greater Sunrise key for boosting East Timor
revenue
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Woodside says talks on processing options ongoing, no
final
decision made
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East Timor president expects nation to join ASEAN this
year
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Country has issued gold mining licences, exploring onshore
gas
By Sudarshan Varadhan
DILI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - East Timor would prefer to work
with Australia and partners Woodside Energy WDS.AX and Japan's
Osaka Gas 9532.T over Chinese firms that have expressed
interest in developing the stalled Greater Sunrise natural gas
field, its president said.
The comments by President Jose Ramos-Horta in an interview
with Reuters mark the first time he has publicly expressed a
preference to develop the field with Australia and existing
partners since he suggested doing so with new ones such as China
and Kuwait last year.
The prospect of developing Greater Sunrise, which has
5.1 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, with new partners had
raised concerns in Australia about growing Chinese power and
influence in the Pacific region.
Ramos-Horta said East Timor has been stalling approaches
from Chinese companies including state-owned Sinopec 600028.SS
as well as Kuwaiti firms to develop the field, as it is
committed to its Australian partners.
"If anything, it is our side that has been holding off,"
Ramos-Horta said in an interview on Sunday during a commercial
flight from Dili to Indonesia's Bali.
State-owned Timor Gap owns a 56.6% stake in the field
located about 140 km (87 miles) south of East Timor, while
Australia's Woodside owns 33.4% and Osaka Gas holds 10%.
The multi-billion dollar development of the field, whose
revenues were estimated at $65 billion in 2018, has been stalled
for decades amid disagreements with Australia and operator
Woodside.
It is vital to the economic growth of Southeast Asia's
poorest nation, also known as Timor-Leste, which gained
independence from Indonesia in 2002.
"Our government is open to listening to other investors. But
in transparency with the existing joint venture, until the last
minute, we say we want to work with Australia," he said.
Ramos-Horta said Woodside's CEO had told him and the
country's prime minister in private meetings that developing a
liquefied natural gas plant in East Timor was a viable option,
but added that Woodside and Osaka Gas were still pushing to pipe
the gas to an existing LNG hub in Darwin, Australia.
"All evidence acknowledges that the Timor option is a viable
one, not more expensive than the pipeline to Darwin,"
Ramos-Horta said, referring to findings of a report by British
engineering and consultancy firm Wood WG.L hired by the
Sunrise joint venture as proof of the viability.
The report has yet to be made public.
Woodside said in a statement on Wednesday that the report
did not make a recommendation, but it contained multiple
considerations for each option including financing, technical
and regulatory approvals.
"At present, Woodside remains in discussion with the
Sunrise Joint Venture participants about the outcome of the
study and next steps," the company told Reuters, adding the
participants remained in talks with the governments of Australia
and East Timor.
Osaka Gas and Sinopec declined to comment, while the
office of Australia's Resources Minister Madeleine King did not
respond to requests for comment.
Ramos-Horta said a Kuwaiti private fund had visited Dili
five times, expressing interest in underwriting the entire
investment in the pipeline to East Timor required if the LNG
plant is built there.
"We have no problems in financing an LNG plant in
Timor-Leste ourselves. We have money," he said.
Ramos-Horta said it was crucial that the Greater Sunrise
agreement be signed before Australian federal elections in the
first half of this year to prevent further delays, but said a
meeting between the two countries had not been scheduled.
"Three years into the office of the current prime minister,
if they have not made a decision, have not yet signed the
agreement to bring the pipeline to Timor-Leste, then I wonder,
what the real commitment of the government of Australia to
Timor-Leste is," he said.
Separately, Ramos-Horta said he expected East Timor to
become a member of regional grouping Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.
East Timor has also issued rights to mine gold to joint
ventures between Timorese companies and Australian miners, and
started exploring onshore natural gas in central and eastern
Timor, he said.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in Dili; Additional reporting
by Alasdair Pal in Sydney, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Aizhu Chen
in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed)
((sudarshan.varadhan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 91164984;))