| Subject: ABC: Timor talks sought as Sunrise
project shelved
Also: Australia's Woodside Shelving Greater
Sunrise Gas Project
Friday January 14, 08:07 PM
Timor talks sought as Sunrise project shelved
The Federal Government has invited East Timor to further talks to
resolve a deadlock over maritime boundaries.
The offer coincides with Woodside Petroleum announcing it will halt
development of a $5 billion gas project.
Woodside has confirmed it will not commit any more money to the Greater
Sunrise Gas Project, 450 kilometres north-west of Darwin.
Late last year the company warned work would stop if the governments
did not reach an agreement on maritime boundaries by Christmas.
That deadline passed without an agreement.
A company spokesman says Woodside has already spent $200 million.
The spokesman says market demand will determine whether or not the
project will restart, if the governments do an reach agreement.
The Federal Government is proposing that the talks be held within the
next three months.
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Friday January 14, 09:23 PM Asia Pulse
Australia's Woodside Shelving Greater Sunrise Gas Project
PERTH, Jan 14 Asia Pulse - Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) has
followed through on its warning that the A$5 billion (US$3.8 billion)
Greater Sunrise gas project would be shelved if the stand-off between the
East Timorese and Australian governments continued.
Staff have been progressively transferred to other projects and the
company is not committing any more money to Greater Sunrise, a spokesman
said.
Woodside warned investors in November the project would stall if it did
not have legal and fiscal certainty by the end of last year.
"That time has come and gone and we've started to reassign people
to different projects," the spokesman said.
The project is being held up by a maritime boundary and royalty dispute
between Australia and East Timor.
A deal was struck between the nations last year and passed through the
Australian Parliament that split revenues from Greater Sunrise 80:20.
But East Timor has said it would not ratify it until Australia showed
goodwill and good faith in negotiating the permanent maritime boundary.
The Greater Sunrise field, estimated to contain 7.8 trillion cubic feet
of gas, is located in the Timor Sea 450 kilometres from Darwin but only
about 80 kilometres from East Timor.
If the agreement is not signed and the project's development plan
abandoned it could be years before the market presented opportunities as
suppliers currently enjoy, Woodside said last year.
The spokesman said today the speed at which the project could be
brought back on would depend on the patience of prospective customers.
"It's a matter of how quickly the governments can resolve the
issue as to how quickly we might be able to kick start it," he said.
"The government has been well aware of our position since before
November, and then of course in November when we told the investment
market."
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane's office said it had not
received any official notification.
Woodside operates the Greater Sunrise project on behalf of joint
venture partners Royal Dutch/Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas.
ASIA PULSE
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