East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, says his Government hopes to sign the full agreement with Australia over the Greater Sunrise gas field in early January.

Mr Horta says both countries have signed an in-principle agreement over the division of revenue from the gas field in the Timor Sea.

Mr Horta says the deal was achieved after the two countries decided to defer talks over maritime boundaries for a number of years and just focus on dividing the project.

"We have completed the negotiations with tremendous goodwill on both sides over our technical team, on our side always directed by our Prime Minister, and so we hope to sign agreement in the second week of January," he said.

Mr Horta says given the circumstances, it is the best-possible deal.

"[I'm] fully satisfied with what our negotiators have achieved," he said. "It is a fair deal for Australia and for Timor Leste. We're unlikely that we could have achieved anything better under any other circumstances."

The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Clare Martin, says there are a lot of details still to be worked out. "It would be terrific if it was January, but I think there's still a fair bit of work to go," she said.