The move, reported in this morning's Australian, will surprise no industry insiders or observers, but a senior East Timorese politician told the newspaper the decision would be a "major problem" for his government.
Secretary of State for Natural Resources Alfredo Pires said the Greater Sunrise partners had agreed not to decide on a liquefaction site until early next year and the East Timorese Government would continue to push for a plant on Timor.
But Woodside says a plant on Timor would involve the highest capital cost, longest schedule and most risk of all available options.
East Timor lies on the far side of the deep Timor Trench from Greater Sunrise, which would make laying pipelines difficult and very expensive. In addition, the country is unstable and has little infrastructure.
Woodside's partners in Greater Sunrise include ConocoPhillips, which is believed to be an advocate of processing gas in Darwin, and Shell, which favours a floating LNG development, as well as Osaka Gas.
