SYDNEY — Woodside Energy said on Tuesday it has agreed to sell its entire 33.44 per cent participating interest in the Greater Sunrise gas project to East Timor's state-owned oil and gas company TIMOR GAP for up to US$200 million — yaani about $20 crore in dollar terms — Dow Jones Newswires reported, in a report carried by Morningstar. The decision raises new questions over a resource discovered around 50 years ago but never developed, it said.

Source: Dow Jones via Morningstar, Oct 27, 2026

Only US$13.71 million will be payable when the transaction completes, while the remaining US$186.29 million depends on the project reaching specified development and production milestones, Business News Today reported in a detailed breakdown of the deal. A second payment of US$11.29 million follows an affirmative final investment decision for LNG production, and the largest payment — US$175 million — becomes payable within 365 days after loading begins for the first LNG cargo from the Greater Sunrise area, it reported. Completion is targeted for the first half of 2027, subject to government, regulatory and joint venture approvals, it said.

Source: Business News Today, Oct 27, 2026

33.44%Woodside stake in Greater Sunrise being sold to TIMOR GAP
Up to $200 millionTotal consideration — only $13.71 million payable at completion
$175 millionLargest payment, conditional on the first LNG cargo being loaded
5.1 trillion cubic feetEstimated gas in the fields, plus 226 million barrels of condensate (TIMOR GAP figures, contingent resources)

From three owners to one: TIMOR GAP heads for 100 per cent

Before the announced transactions, TIMOR GAP held 56.56 per cent of the Sunrise Joint Venture, Woodside held 33.44 per cent and Osaka Gas held the remaining 10 per cent, Business News Today reported. TIMOR GAP announced a binding agreement on September 2, 2026, to acquire Osaka Gas Australia's 10 per cent interest, and the Woodside deal would add 33.44 per cent, potentially consolidating the entire project under the national oil company if both transactions complete, it reported. Dow Jones noted that the exits of Woodside and Osaka Gas give TIMOR GAP flexibility to bring in new partners.

Source: Business News Today / Dow Jones, Oct 27, 2026

"Reaching alignment on the key principles underpinning a new Greater Sunrise Production Sharing Contract and associated fiscal framework in August provides an appropriate point for Woodside to sell its participating interest to Timor Gap," Woodside chief executive Liz Westcott said, in a statement reported by Dow Jones. Woodside aims to complete the transaction in the first half of 2027, it said. Since becoming chief executive in March, Westcott has moved to sell several assets, Dow Jones reported.

Source: Dow Jones via Morningstar, Oct 27, 2026

Discovered in 1974, still undeveloped: the pipeline argument

Greater Sunrise consists of the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields, about 150 kilometres southeast of Timor-Leste and 450 kilometres northwest of Darwin, Australia, and the fields were discovered in 1974, Business News Today reported. Development has been repeatedly delayed by disagreement over where the gas should be processed: East Timor has long argued that processing the gas in the small country would create jobs and support industrial development, while alternative proposals would pipe it toward existing infrastructure around Darwin, it reported, citing Dow Jones. TIMOR GAP intends to accelerate consideration of the Timor LNG concept, involving a pipeline toward Natarbora on Timor-Leste's southern coast, it said. Under the 2018 maritime treaty, Timor-Leste would receive 70 per cent of upstream revenue if the fields are developed through a pipeline to Timor-Leste, and 80 per cent if developed through a pipeline to Australia, it reported.

Source: Business News Today, Oct 27, 2026

What is solid

  • Woodside has agreed to sell its 33.44 per cent Greater Sunrise interest to TIMOR GAP for up to $200 million, with completion targeted for the first half of 2027 subject to approvals, Dow Jones and Seeking Alpha reported.
  • Only $13.71 million is payable at completion; the rest is milestone-based, including $175 million tied to the first LNG cargo, Business News Today reported.

What is only claimed

  • An industry analyst told ABC News Australia that China is well placed to step in and help Timor-Leste develop the field — an analyst's assessment, not an announced deal. Timor-Leste's President Jose Ramos-Horta previously said the country might consider Chinese investors if no deal could be struck with existing partners, ABC reported via Vesper.
  • Pushing the project forward is critical for East Timor, which faces a major drop in revenue as other energy fields are depleted, Dow Jones reported; whether TIMOR GAP can finance and build the development alone remains unproven.

The exit is part of a wider portfolio clean-up at Woodside: this month the company said it will seek to reduce its interest in the Beaumont New Ammonia project in the United States, which it agreed to acquire for $2.35 billion only two years ago, Dow Jones reported. For Timor-Leste, which has a large petroleum fund it can draw on in the short term, a continued lack of progress at Greater Sunrise would make it more reliant on foreign aid, it said.

Source: Dow Jones via Morningstar, Oct 27, 2026

What happens next

The sale needs government, regulatory and joint venture approvals and is targeted to complete in the first half of 2027. TIMOR GAP must then find the financing — and possibly a new foreign partner — to finally develop a field found in 1974.