Forbes Piece: TIMOR GAP, Woodside Energy Detail Greater Sunrise Field Plans At OTC

[Note: This story was also published at Forbes.com]

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) hosted a bit of history in Houston last week, as representatives of the Timor-Leste national oil company, TIMOR GAP, and Australia-based Woodside Energy appeared on stage together for the first time to discuss a major offshore natural gas opportunity. In a panel discussion I had the honor of moderating, Andy Drummond, Executive Vice President of Exploration and Development at Woodside, and TIMOR GAP CEO Antonio de Sousa laid out recent progress and discussed next steps required to proceed with development of the Greater Sunrise natural gas field before an audience of OTC attendees.

Mr. de Sousa made his first journey to the United States during the OTC event in 2022, where he laid out his country’s plans for future development of the natural gas resource but was alone in doing so. First discovered almost half a century ago in 1974 in the Timor Sea waters that lie between Timor-Leste and the northern coast of Australia, Greater Sunrise is believed to contain 5.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 226 million barrels of condensate, making it one of the largest discovered but undeveloped oil and gas resources in the Asia Pacific region.

For Timor-Leste and its 1.3 million citizens, the potential revenues, jobs and economic impact accruing from the development of the resource could become transformational in a way similar to what is now happening in the South American country of Guyana due to the development of the prolific offshore Stabroek block. A high percentage of the Timor-Leste population is under the age of 25 and well-paying professional jobs like those that would be created by a Greater Sunrise Field development project are currently scarce.