The West Australian: Timor considers buying Sunrise

The Timor-Leste Government has floated the prospect of buying Woodside Petroleum out of the giant Sunrise gas project, as the fledgling South East Asian gets increasingly impatient at the hold-up to what it hopes will becomes an economy-transforming development.

Timor-Leste Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Alfredo Pires said yesterday its national oil company, Timor Gap, could be used to buy out Woodside or other Sunrise joint venture partners such as Royal Dutch Shell or ConocoPhillips to end the development stalemate.

"In terms of getting into the Sunrise, we are interested," Mr Pires told reporters in Perth just hours after breakfast with Premier Colin Barnett and Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman.

"If Woodside is willing to sell . . . if (they) find the whole thing too hot to handle you might want to spend the money elsewhere, I have raised that."

Mr Pires also said Timor-Leste's $18 billion sovereign wealth fund may be interested in funding the 150km pipeline from the Sunrise gas-condensate fields to an onshore LNG plant. MORE