Timor Gap, the state-owned oil company in Timor-Leste, aims to decide as early as late next year whether to invest in building a facility for processing liquefied natural gas (LNG) which would have Chinese financial backing, Bloomberg reports.

The financial news agency quotes Timor Gap as saying that the facility, if built, would open in late 2025.

The LNG processing facility would be at Beaço, on the south coast of Timor-Leste, Bloomberg says.

This week the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, quoted Timor Gap President Francisco Monteiro as saying Timor-Leste and Chinese officials were discussing Chinese financing for the construction of a US$943 million port at Beaço.

The report said state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. had announced last month that Timor Gap had given it the contract to build the port.

Natural gas from the Greater Sunrise gas fields off Timor-Leste would go first to the Beaço LNG processing facility and then be exported through the port, Lusa said.