Shell, Woodside and Osaka Gas will join Phillips Petroleum in investigating potential gas markets in the Northern Territory and South-East Australia.

The review is due to be completed in October to coincide with a $200 million engineering and design commitment needed to ensure the timely development of Sunrise.

Woodside has backed Shell's claim that the floating liquefied natural gas plant is the only viable project to develop Sunrise and said that an intensive marketing drive over the past two years failed to identify markets capable of buying sufficient gas at the right price to justify a pipeline onshore.

Squabbling over the development of the Timor Sea has already cost a $20 billion letter of intent signed with US energy utility El Paso and Methanex has also relocated the plans for its $3 billion methanol plant to Western Australia.

One company that could fill the hole left by Methanex and become a foundation customer for Sunrise gas would be French aluminium giant Pechiney, which is planning to build a $3.4 billion aluminium smelter and an associated power station worth $2 billion.

However the French are becoming increasingly irritated over the continuing squabbling between the commercial partners over Sunrise and have warned they would pull out if the situation is not resolved soon.

The company said it intends to start work early next year to begin production in 2005.

"When we have all the necessary considerations together at one site, we will just go with it," Pechiney's director of the project, Mr Jean-Paul Aussel said. "And if there is no certainty of gas in Australia then there will be no project."

The other potential competitor for the project is South Africa, where Pechiney has just signed an electricity supply contract with Eskom.