| Subject: Australia's Woodside sees Timor
Sea gas project as viable although stalled
Wednesday February 16, 04:59 AM
Australia's Woodside sees Timor Sea gas project as viable although
stalled
SYDNEY (AFX) - Woodside Petroleum Ltd said the 5 bln aud Greater
Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea is stalled but remains viable.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte told an analyst briefing a decision
to progress depends on the governments of East Timor and Australia
reaching agreement. Last year the East Timor Government refused to present
to its parliament for ratification an agreement it signed with Australia
in 2003 covering legal and fiscal terms for the Greater Sunrise
development.
The agreement would have split revenues from Greater Sunrise 80:20
between Australia and East Timor.
But since signing the agreement, East Timor has been demanding a more
equitable share of returns from the Greater Sunrise reservoirs, located
about 450 km northwest of Darwin but only about 80 km from the East Timor
coast.
'The project has stalled but 9 tcf (trln cubic feet) of gas is still
there - it is a viable project,' Voelte said.
Woodside has a 33.4 pct stake in Greater Sunrise, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:
COP - news) has 30 pct and Royal Dutch/Shell 25.56 pct, with the balance
held by Osaka Gas.
The Royal Dutch/Shell group (LSE: SHEL.L - news - msgs) of companies is
Woodside's largest shareholding owning about one-third of the company.
Voelte said Woodside will continue to carry Greater Sunrise in its
accounts at about 60 mln aud and is not intending currently to writedown
this value.
(1 usd = 1.27 aud)
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