Reports of a possible BHP Billiton takeover on Perth-based Woodside Petroleum emerged on Tuesday, contradicting earlier speculations that the mining giant is considering a buyout amidst Woodside's numerous woes on its Pluto LNG project.

The reported takeover bid, said to reach a high of $35 billion, became more prominent as Woodside earlier revealed another delay on its Pluto project in West Australia while admitting that the undertaking has suffered a huge cost blowout.

Speculations further heightened when WA Premier Colin Barnett earlier hinted that BHP had approached him last year for a possible bid on the problem-stricken company but BHP downplayed the rumors when it informed the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in April that it was not aware of such plans.

On Tuesday, The Australian has reported that BHP will not be able to pursue any plans of purchasing Woodside unless its stocks steadied below the $40 mark, which recently climbed to $48 per share due largely to talks of a buyout by the mining giant.

Yet as of Monday's closing at the ASX, Woodside saw its shares retreating to $39.91, which also averaged a 15 percent slide in June, prompting many analysts to predict that BHP will be all the more convince to move for a gradual takeover.

Experts said that BHP will likely gain a foothold first by buying the 24 percent holdings of Royal Dutch Shell on Woodside before it aims to any possibility of a full-blown takeover of the oil explorer.

On Friday last week, Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman has disclosed that another six months will be required by its Pluto LNG undertaking, and shocked the company's investors by disclosing that the project will incur another cost blowout that could reach a high of $900 million.

The project so far has been projected to require $14.9 billion by the time it is completed, which eclipsed the earlier announced cost of $14 billion and a 97 percent completion by the latter part of May.

A takeover on Woodside would allow BHP a viable platform for its petroleum growth plans, which it lack at the moment, according to analysts from Credit Suisse, and taking on a project that is almost on its final stages, despite it being fraught with issues, will be a good start for the mining giant en route to its 30-year petro blueprint.