Woodside Petroleum Ltd is unlikely to pursue the use of floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology in its development of the Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea and is instead leaning towards an onshore plant, according to The Australian Financial Review.

The East Timor government said it and the company see the offshore option as carrying risk related to the use of commercially unproven technology, and that Woodside is reviving the possibility of an onshore plant for the Sunrise project.

"I believe they have come to the conclusion that FLNG is simply not an option for Greater Sunrise," East Timor government spokesman Agio Pereira told the AFR.

Woodside had previously said building an onshore plant in East Timor would cost $US5 billion more than a floating plant.

The discussion comes soon after Woodside shelves the James Price Point plan for Browse LNG that saw the company abandon the onshore option favoured by Australian governments.