AUSTRALIA: The Sunrise Joint Venture (SJV), comprising TIMOR GAP (56.56 per cent), Woodside Energy (33.44 per cent), and Osaka Gas Australia (10.00 per cent), has awarded the Greater Sunrise Concept Study contract to Wood Australia Pty Ltd (Wood PLC) following a global contract procurement process.

The study, led by Wood PLC, will involve a multi-disciplinary subcontracting team of specialist consulting partners.

It will focus on key issues related to the development, processing, and marketing of gas, with a strong emphasis on delivering gas to Timor-Leste for processing and LNG sales, or to Australia.

Various disciplines including engineering, financial assessment, local content, strategy and security, health safety and environment, and socioeconomic analysis will be covered in the study.

It aims to evaluate which option provides the most meaningful benefit for the people of Timor-Leste.

Importantly, the study will be conducted impartially and will not provide any recommendations to the SJV.

It is targeted to be completed by no later than the fourth quarter of 2024.

Additionally, the SJV and the governments have made progress towards agreeing on a new production-sharing contract, Petroleum Mining Code, and fiscal regimes, which upon finalisation will provide fiscal and regulatory certainty.

The Greater Sunrise fields, located approximately 450 kilometres northwest of Darwin in the Northern Territory and 150 kilometres south of Timor-Leste, comprise the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields.

The SJV, with its partners, is committed to developing the Greater Sunrise fields, pending regulatory and fiscal agreements with the governments of Timor-Leste and Australia.