On 1 October 2018 ConocoPhillips announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its share in the Greater Sunrise assets to the East Timor Government.Â  Under the terms of the sale agreement, the East Timor Government will make a payment of USD 350 million, and in return will take on ConocoPhillipsâs 30% share in the project.  The deal is subject to relevant authority approvals and partner pre-emption options, as well as the government acquiring funding approval.Â  If these are received the parties expect to complete the deal in Q1 2019.  Upon completion of the deal, ConocoPhillips will assign its 30% interest in permits JPDA 03-19, JPDA 03-20, NT/RL2 and NT/RL4 to the East Timor Government.Â  The JPDA contracts are, at this stage, within the previous-Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) waters.Â  These will be renegotiated as East Timor PSCs, after the new maritime boundary was outlined in March 2018. These are expected in late 2018/early 2019.  The permits contain the Sunrise and Troubadour discoveries, that make up the Greater Sunrise assets.Â  The discoveries were made in 1975 and 1974 respectively and contain over 5 Tcf gas and 225 MMb condensate.  ConocoPhillips reported that it differed in opinion with the East Timor Government over how the Greater Sunrise fields should be developed. It has been long debated, with the Greater Sunrise joint venture (JV) preferring a Floating LNG (FLNG) scenario, over the East Timor Governmentâs suggestion to pipe the hydrocarbons back to an onshore plant in East Timor.Â  The JV have indicated this would be more costly, but also difficult as a development due to the bathymetry between the discoveries and East Timor. The deal will have significance, as the East Timor Government has outlined that its preference remains, and with interest in the project it will have a greater input into the development decisions.  Upon announcement of the transaction, the East Timor Government reported that it would proceed with further discussions with the JV to evaluate the future development.Â  Woodside, operator of the assets, has indicated that the project falls under its âHorizon IIIâ planned developments, which are scheduled for post-2027. Â   The Great Sunrise fields have been under discussion for development for some time, with Woodside initially planning to make a decision in 2009.Â  However a number of issues, including differing opinions in the development scenario, disputes around the maritime boundary and drop in oil price have pushed the development back a number of times.Â  Woodside has had several discussions with the East Timor government over the development, looking to come to an agreement. However the maritime boundary dispute put this on hold with Woodside reporting that it would wait for a resolution. Â   A new maritime boundary was agreed and the initial documents signed in March 2018.Â  The boundary is expected to be finalized and put in place in late 2018/early 2019.Â  The new maritime arrangement has included a âSpecial Regimeâ for Sunrise, which will see East Timor get at least 70% of the government revenues from the development, with the split to be 70:30 (in favour of East Timor) if the development sees a pipeline to East Timor, and split 80:20 if a pipeline to Australia is utilised.Â  It is not known if this will alter if the government has a stake in the project.  Participants in the Greater Sunrise assets are: Woodside Petroleum Ltd (27.67% + Operator), Shell Australia Ltd (32.33%), OG ZOKA Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co Ltd (10%) and ConocoPhillips, selling its share to the East Timor Government, (30%).
Australia, NT/RL2