East Timor said it would consider a plan for gas from the Greater Sunrise field to be processed in Australia, a promising step in efforts to develop Timor Sea's biggest resource and provide billions of dollars to the tiny nation.

East Timor and Woodside Petroleum Ltd disagree where the gas should be processed, which has added to a broader dispute between East Timor and Australia over dividing revenues from the field.
East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said he believed transporting the gas via pipeline to East Timor was commercially feasible and still the best option, but did not rule out other options.
“I have to be convinced that technically, commercially its not feasible to do it in Timor Leste,” Alkatiri said on the sidelines of a seminar in Melbourne.
“If i am convinced, then yes, why not? I am a pragmatic person, I am realistic.” Alkatiri said he hoped to meet with Woodside chief executive Don Voelte next week to discuss the options.
Woodside, which is seeking to develop Greater Sunrise at a cost of $5 billion, has long said it would prefer the gas to be transported to Wickham Point near the northern Australian city of Darwin where a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is already being built for ConocoPhillips's Bayu-Undan project.
The Greater Sunrise joint venture partners, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch/Shell and Japan's Osaka Gas Co Ltd would prefer the gas be processed at an offshore floating facility.
But before Woodside will even consider developing the fields, Australia and East Timor must finalise a draft agreement over splitting Greater Sunrise revenues so it can be put before the parliament’s of both countries for ratification.
Alkatiri reiterated his was optimistic the draft would soon be finalised.