MELBOURNE, Oct 1 (Reuters) - East Timor has signed a deal tobuy ConocoPhillips' stake in the Greater Sunrise gasfield off the country's southern coast for $350 million, theAustralian Financial Review reported on Monday.
A delegation led by former East Timor president XananaGusmao and its proposed new petroleum minister Alfredo Piressigned a final agreement in Bali last Friday withConocoPhillips' Australia West president Chris Wilson, thenewspaper said, without citing any sources.
ConocoPhillips had no immediate comment on the sale of its30 percent stake in Greater Sunrise and the East Timor embassyin Australia did not respond to phone calls or an email requestfor comment.
"While we are aware of unofficial reports, the Sunrise JointVenture has not been approached formally by Timor-Leste orConocoPhillips on this matter," Australia's Woodside Petroleum, operator and 33 percent stakeholder in Greater Sunrisesaid in an email to Reuters.
Taking a stake would help East Timor position itself to pushfor the development of Greater Sunrise, discovered in 1974 butlong delayed as it straddles the maritime border betweenAustralia and East Timor, which was only agreed earlier thisyear following a protracted dispute between the two countries.
The border agreement outlined two options for developingGreater Sunrise -- piping the gas to East Timor, which the tinySoutheast Asian nation has long wanted, or piping it toAustralia for processing.
East Timor wants the gas to come to its shores as it iseager to develop oil and gas-based industries, such aspetrochemicals manufacturing, to diversify its economy, one ofthe world's poorest.
The need is urgent as the government's main source ofrevenue, the Bayu Undan gas field run by ConocoPhillips, is setto run dry by 2022.
The Sunrise and Troubadour gas fields, together known asGreater Sunrise, were discovered in 1974 and hold around 5.1trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the project's operator,Australia's Woodside Petroleum.
The fields also hold about 226 million barrels ofcondensate, an ultra-light form of crude oil that would helpmake the development more profitable.
The other owners are Royal Dutch Shell and Japan'sOsaka Gas.
State-owned company Timor Gap is looking to build aliquefied natural gas plant on the country's south coast, theAustralian Financial Review said.
Timor Gap was not immediately available for comment. Piresdid not respond to an email.
Under an agreement signed in March, East Timor will receive70 percent of the royalty revenues from Greater Sunrise if thegas is piped to its shores or 80 percent if piped to Australia.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Richard Pullin)
