Malaysia's Petronas invited to develop Timor field

Malaysia's national oil company says it has been invited by East Timor's government to help develop an oil and gas field worth billions of dollars.

The comments Tuesday from Petronas come after Timor last week said it will block proposals by a consortium led by Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd. to develop the field.

The Greater Sunrise field is estimated to hold 240 million barrels of light oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet (154 billion cubic meters) of natural gas.

Hassan Merican, the chief executive of Petronas, said the state-run energy firm has been advising the Timor government on how to develop the gas resources in the area.

Hassan said the Timor government has invited Petronas to participate in the project, and the company is studying whether to accept the invitation.