Timor Gap purchases Osaka Gas' stake in Greater Sunrise Project

Timor Gap, the national oil company of East Timor, announced that it had signed a 'binding agreement' with Osaka Gas for the purchase of a 10% participating interest by Osaka Gas in 'the Greater Sunrise' gas 'project.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Rui Soares, the Chief Executive Officer of East Timor LNG Development Concept said that by consolidating the participating interests in Greater Sunrise and increasing East Timor’s overall participation "we expect to accelerate pending work in order to select the Timor LNG concept in the near future."

Soares said that the acquisition will help the joint venture partners of the project reach a final decision on investment and unlock the value in the Greater Sunrise resource for East Timor as well as other stakeholders.

Osaka Gas confirmed the deal but declined to comment on it's value.

The Greater Sunrise Project, which has gas fields between East Timor, Australia and Indonesia, has been stalled for years because of a dispute between Dili, the operator, and Woodside Energy about where to pipe in the gas.

Dili insists that the gas be shipped to a new LNG export facility in East Timor and not Darwin, in northern Australia.

Greater Sunrise is the collective name for Sunrise and Troubadour, which together contain 5.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, and 226,000,000 barrels of condensate.

After the acquisition of the 'Osaka Gas stake, Timor Gap now holds a 66.56% share in the project. Woodside Energy owns 33.44%.

(source: Reuters)