Dili, Sept. 25, 2026 (Lusa) - The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Timor-Leste has signed contracts to carry out technical studies on the planned route for the Greater Sunrise and Bayu-Udan gas pipelines, the Timorese Government announced on Friday.
«The contracts cover geotechnical investigation work and other surveys aimed at deepening our understanding of seabed and subsoil conditions and supporting the definition of routes and the future development of the projects,» explained the Timorese government in a statement published on its official website.
Under these contracts, according to the statement, data on the characteristics of the seabed and subsoil will be collected and analysed in areas where depths can reach up to three thousand metres.
The results will then be analysed to determine the characteristics of the seabed and subsoil and to adapt the proposed routes accordingly.
The Minister for Petroleum, Francisco Monteiro, stated that the aim is to determine «whether the route is suitable or not, whether there are any risks along the path the gas pipeline will take, or whether there are areas prone to landslides».
«Once the results of the investigations have been obtained, the data will be used to refine and finalise the necessary designs before moving into the final phase of the engineering design, so that construction and implementation can subsequently go ahead,» he explained.
The contracts include a preliminary geotechnical survey, a detailed geotechnical survey, and a meteorological and oceanographic survey.
Located in the Timor Sea, 150 kilometres from Timor-Leste and 450 kilometres from Darwin, the Greater Sunrise field – comprising the Sunrise and Troubadour fields – is one of the largest reserves of natural resources yet to be explored in the region and represents significant economic potential for the people of Timor-Leste.
The Greater Sunrise fields have contingent resources estimated at 5.13 trillion cubic feet of gas and 225.9 million barrels of condensate.
The permanent maritime boundary agreement between Timor-Leste and Australia stipulates that Greater Sunrise, a shared resource, must be divided, with 70% of the revenue going to Timor-Leste in the event of a gas pipeline to the country, or 80% if processing takes place in Darwin.
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