David Nason, Mark Dodd – The riches from the Greater Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea are set to be unlocked with East Timor's parliament expected to vote on the project next week.

In New York for a UN Security Council session, Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta said he was optimistic the parliament would support both the Greater Sunrise arrangements and the related seabed boundary agreement with Australia when the vote was taken on Monday.

It is likely that Australia will also move swiftly to ratify the treaty. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer could invoke a seldom-used national interests clause to speed its passage through parliament.

"At the request last year of... Jose Ramos Horta, I agreed that the two countries would move through their domestic treaties processes as closely in parallel as possible," Mr Downer said last week.

Under the Greater Sunrise deal, East Timor and Australia will share royalties expected to be worth close to $40 billion over the 30-year life of the project.

The parliament had been expected to wait until after this year's presidential and parliamentary elections before taking up the issue. Presidential elections will be held in April, with parliamentary elections to follow in June or July.

It has raised speculation that pro-Woodside forces in the parliament decided to fast-track the ratification after former prime minister Mari Alkatiri was cleared of criminal charges related to last year's riots in Dili.

Dr Alkatiri is among a number of East Timorese political figures wanting a better deal out of Greater Sunrise.