The Australian Government has announced the 2013 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release comprising 31 areas across six basins in Commonwealth waters offshore of the Northern Territory, the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Western Australia and Victoria.
Announcing the Acreage Release at the annual APPEA conference in Brisbane, Resources and Energy Minister Gary Gray said the release contained significant new exploration opportunities for the global petroleum industry.
“The 2013 Acreage Release includes areas in highly prospective mature basins including the Northern Carnarvon and Gippsland as well as exciting new areas in relatively underexplored basins such as the Perth Basin,” Gray said.
“As with previous releases, there was strong interest in the area nomination process with 29 of the 31 areas underpinned by industry nominations.
“The remaining two areas in the North Perth Basin were nominated by Geoscience Australia as having particular prospectivity, based upon new scientific results from a targeted pre-competitive data acquisition campaign in the region.
“All of the available acreage is supported by data and analysis by Geoscience Australia and all exploration and development activities will be subject to comprehensive assessment.”
The release of exploration acreage is key to ensuring the growth of the Australian petroleum sector and offers the global petroleum exploration industry a variety of new investment opportunities as they plan their future strategy.
“Today’s Acreage Release will assist the offshore petroleum exploration industry in transforming the energy future of Australia and that of our major trading partners,” Gray said.
Press Release, May 27, 2013