East Timor’s foreign minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, said the deal with Australia was more than 90% complete, according to an ABC report.

The 50-50 revenue split means Australia has moved from its original offer of 18 percent for East Timor.

In turn, Dili has dropped its demand that the oil-gas pipeline must run to East Timor rather than the Northern Territory.

The remaining differences concern future disputes that could arise over new oil and gas discoveries, environmental problems, security and fisheries, the ABC said.

The governments have also agreed to defer final maritime boundaries for 40 years and for revenue to be equally shared.

Under the proposed agreement, both countries will share the riches from the Greater Sunrise area in the Timor Sea.

But finalising the boundary agreement will not in itself lead to rapid development of the greater Sunrise area.

Sunrise looks like being on hold for several years while its operator Woodside prioritises development of a new Browse Basin gas hub, its 100%-owned Pluto field and expansion of the North West Shelf LNG project.

In February, Woodside chief Dan Voelte said the Sunrise partners had probably lost the window to market Sunrise gas.

The other Sunrise partners are Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas.

ConocoPhilips is the operator of Bayu Undan and the Darwin LNG project.

Second and perhaps third trains are being planned for the Darwin LNG plant. The site location is already approved for up to 10 million tonnes per annum of LNG and Train 1, which is nearly completed, has a capacity of 3.24 Mtpa.

Given current LNG prices and demand, ConocoPhilips may been keen to secure another gas supply in the near term. But developing the Caldita field with Santos is likely to be an easier option than persuading Woodside to fast-track Greater Sunrise.