Australia awards 11 offshore exploration blocks

The Australian Government has granted 11 new offshore exploration permits following bidding to 9 oil companies, which are expected to generate exploration programs worth more than AUD $800 million over the next 6 years.

Some 21 companies bid for the rights to explore Australian oil and gas opportunities. The areas are in Commonwealth waters off Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory and include four permits in Designated Frontier Areas (DFAs).

Australian Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said in a statement, “Companies, which take on the greater risk of exploring in DFAs are eligible for favourable tax rates because it is in these unexplored frontier areas that we expect to find major new oil or gas reserves”.

More than $800 million will be invested over the next six years to explore Australian oil and gas opportunities, taking total investment in the 2006 offshore petroleum acreage release to almost $2.2 billion.

Up to 20 per cent of acreage is designated to frontier areas in each annual acreage release. DFA areas must be more than 100 km from a commercialized oil discovery and must not be adjacent to an area designated in the previous year’s acreage release.

Total E&P Australia, Samson International (Australia) Pty. Ltd., CNOOC Australia E&P, and India’s Reliance Industries Ltd are among companies acquiring exploration permits in Australia’s latest licensing round. The permits can be renewed twice for periods of 5 years.

Samson bags two permits in the Northern Arafura basin off Northern Territory. Santos Offshore Pty. Ltd. acquired one permit in the Sorell ban off Tasmania.

In the Bonaparte basin off Western Australia, CNOOC Australia received one permit, Total Australia (two permits), Goldsborough Energy, and Reliance Industries Ltd.

Australia granted three permits in the Carnarvon basin off Western Australia, one to Woodside Energy Ltd. and Hess Exploration (Carnarvon) Pty. Ltd. and two permits to Gerald Nelson.