Woodside's Bet on Southeast Asia: $5M Ton LNG Plant in Timor-Leste by 2032

Australian energy giant Woodside just inked a cooperation deal with Timor-Leste’s government to develop the Greater Sunrise gas fields into a major LNG hub.

Here’s what’s brewing:

The Scale

• Target capacity: ~5 million tonnes per annum (pretty hefty)
• First LNG could flow as early as 2032-2035
• Includes a domestic gas facility + helium extraction—so it’s not just about LNG

What’s Happening Now Woodside and Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Petroleum are running parallel tracks:

• Commercial & technical maturation activities (the legwork)
• Fiscal, regulatory, and legal framework negotiations with both Timor-Leste and Australian governments

Why It Matters This is greenfield infrastructure—meaning they’re building from scratch. LNG projects are massive capital bets that typically take 5-7 years to develop. If the timeline holds, Woodside could have production online in less than a decade.

Stock Action WDS closed up 0.12% at AUD 25.11 on the ASX after the announcement—modest move, but these mega-projects tend to play out over years.

The real test? Keeping fiscal terms favorable while governments get their cuts. Watch the negotiations.