"If you were Woodside, would you want to spend the money building Train 3 in PNG or floating LNG in the Browse Basin in the current market? You'd have to go PNG right now, but in the middle of 2016 with an oil price of $US85/bbl things might look very different," he told Energy News.
"I think they'll try to push out FID (final investment decision), but Browse will go ahead eventually. It has 15Tcf and more than 300MMbbl of condensate, but it won't go ahead quickly.
"Certainly it won't be putting product into the market before 2021, and everyone is eying that same 2021-22 opportunity for sales, such as the LNG coming out of the US and East Africa."
Woodside could also help pressure to co-locate the Papua LNG project at the PNG LNG location, to avoid the same issues at Curtis Island in Queensland, and create two streamlined projects.
Strachan also suggested that Woodside could also look at InterOil, which is now headed up by former Woodside staffer Michael Hession, the former senior vice president for Browse LNG.
"This could be the first of any number of moves," Strachan suggested.
InterOil's Elk-Antelope project and the nearby Triceratops discovery could have enough gas to support 2-3 LNG trains, assuming successful appraisal drilling, and may even exceed the size the all-important liquids endowment.
Oil Search shares were up some 16% yesterday morning to $7.90, while Woodside shares were off 3% to $29.66, suggesting not much of a premium is being priced in to Woodside's offer, and that Oil Search's shareholders believe the oiler may fight, for a higher price.
