Speaking at the company's half-year results teleconference yesterday, Coleman said he would be meeting with the East Timor government soon.

"I'm hoping that through the establishment of early relationships we can get a dialogue going again between Woodside and the Timor Leste government to really understand where we have our differences," he said.

"Sunrise is a really a good development. It is one that we all want to develop; it is one that we all see there is value to it. Fiscal structures are in place, joint venture structures are in place for that to happen."

However, he noted that he would not retreat from the Sunrise joint venture's decision on a floating LNG development, which has been the centre of the dispute with East Timor.

East Timor has consistently opposed the use of FLNG to develop Greater Sunrise, which has estimated reserves of 5.13 trillion cubic feet of gas and 226 million barrels of condensate, calling instead for an onshore plant on its shores that would presumably create much-needed jobs in the impoverished country.

However, project operator Woodside has consistently maintained that while a pipeline to East Timor across the deep Timor Trench is "technically feasible" it posed "technical, operational and commercial difficulties" and would cost $A5 billion more.

Meanwhile, Coleman said Woodside recognised the challenges of its Pluto expansion, Browse LNG and Greater Sunrise projects and that while it had $3 billion in cash, changes in its equity position would be needed to support the projects' large capital requirements.

"We are going to use all of the options available to us to see what is the right path for us and what is the right mix of debt and equity. We are not simply trying to manage cash; we realise there are other value opportunities."

He said Woodside was happy with its stakes (100% in Pluto 2, 50% of Browse and 33% of Greater Sunrise) at this point of their development.

Coleman also confirmed that he was not confident Woodside had the gas reserves needed to commit to the Pluto 2 expansion and that the company would not stick to former chief executive Don Voelte's commitment to making a final investment decision before the end of this year.

"We continue to build volumes but we just don't have enough yet ... I'm really not going to be driven by calendar-year end date, but we really need to be driven by when will we have created enough to really get value out of it and when do they commercially make sense for us to pursue."

He added that besides drilling more exploration wells, Woodside's talks with other gas owners were "maturing and we are pleased with the progress".

On the Browse project, Coleman said Woodside did not expect any delay in approval processes and that it remained on track for FID in the middle of 2012.

"Good science and appropriate science, and consultation with community and others, drives our decision processes. We are sensitive to it. We're going to take our time to do it right."

He admitted that while the geotechnical survey work had been delayed by weather and other factors, the company was "catching up very quickly".