Chief executive Don Voelte made this suggestion yesterday after revealing a year of record revenues and underlying profits for Woodside.

Voelte said Sunrise could be revived as soon as East Timor ratified the royalty agreement and implemented solid fiscal regulations.

“When we get these agreements finished, we’ve got a willing joint venture partner and all I can say is that the field is completely appraised and would have a big head start,” the West Australian newspaper quoted him as saying.

Woodside put the Greater Sunrise project on hold at the end of 2004, due to the uncertainty created through the prolonged negotiations between East Timor and Australia.

But the issue was resolved last month after the two countries signed a new deal, under which East Timor could receive up to $A13.2 billion from the field.

Voelte said Sunrise is expected to compete with Woodside’s $A5 billion Pluto project off Onslow and the $A10 billion Browse project off Broome for customers. However, he expects all three projects to find markets due to the unprecedented growth in demand for LNG.