May 2014
· Award of Petroleum Exploration Permits from Round 1 of the 2013 Acreage Release
· 2015 Acreage Release
Ø nominations – open
Ø request for images
· Exploration opportunities currently available
Ø 2013 Acreage Release – Round 2
Ø 2013 Acreage Release – Round 1 re-release areas
Ø 2014 Acreage Release
· Are you on our distribution list?
Award of Petroleum Exploration Permits from Round 1 2013 Acreage Release
Today the Minister for Industry, the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP announced the award of nine Petroleum Exploration Permits from Round 1 of the 2013 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. Minister’s Macfarlane’s announcement can be found on his website.
2015 Acreage Release – Nominations of areas
Closing date Monday 30 June 2014
In the April edition, Industry stakeholders were invited to nominate vacant offshore areas to be considered for release in 2015. The area nomination process for the 2015 Acreage Release closes on Monday 30 June 2014.
Nominations are treated as commercial-in-confidence and should be submitted electronically on the approved template to . A factsheet on nominating an area is also available and the Australian Government encourages all potential nominees to review the factsheet.
2015 Acreage Release – Request for images
Closing date Monday 30 June 2014
As part of the Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release, the Australian Government compiles an information package containing supporting geological and regulatory information. The information package contains industry images of offshore petroleum and production related activities in Australia.
If your organisation has any images that you would like considered for use in promotional material, please submit these images in jpg format to: .
Examples of images sought—in Australian waters—include drilling rigs, seismic vessels and seismic data. Your organisation will be acknowledged on any image selected for use in each document it is used. Images will not be provided for use to parties outside of the Department of Industry and Geoscience Australia.
The department would like to thank BHP Billiton Petroleum Pty Ltd for the use of the image below in the 2014 release.
Exploration opportunities currently available –2014 Acreage Release
On 8 April 2014, the Minister for Industry, the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP launched the 2014 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release.
This release comprises 30 areas across four basins in Commonwealth waters offshore the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands. Twenty six areas are available for work program bidding and four areas are available for cash bidding.
Cash bidding aims to provide an equitable, economically efficient and administratively simple system of permit allocation for known and mature areas where only minimal further exploration may be required.
More information on cash bidding can be found in the legislation, the Commonwealth Gazettal Notice, the Cash Bidding Guideline and on the petroleum acreage website.
Geoscience Australia provides precompetitive geological data associated with the release areas at the cost of transfer; the data package can be ordered by emailing .
Please note the website contains the most up to date information.
Rounds / Areas / Bid CloseRound 1 work program
(14 areas) / NT14-1, NT14-2, NT14-3, AC14-2,
AC14-3, AC14-4, W14-2, W14-3, W14-4,
W14-5, W14-7, W14-14, W14-15, W14-16. / Thursday 2 October 2014
Cash Bid Round
(4 areas) / W14-20, W14-21, W14-22, W14-23 / Prequalification:
Thursday 30 October 2014
Cash Bid*:
Thursday 5 February 2015
Round 2 work program
(12 areas) / AC14-1, W14-1, W14-6, W14-8, W14-9,
W14-10, W14-11, W14-12, W14-13, W14-17, W14-18, W14-19. / Thursday 2 April 2015
* Only prequalified applicants will be invited to submit a cash bid.
2013 Round 1 Re-release Areas
Closing date Thursday 2 October 2014
The Australian Government invites work program bids for exploration permits in respect of three re-release areas from Round 1 of the 2013 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. The re-release areas are:
Area / Basin / Sub-BasinW13-15 / Northern Carnarvon / Investigator
W13-16 and W13-17 / Northern Carnarvon / Exmouth
Areas NT13-4 and W13-14 have not been re-released and have reverted to vacant acreage.
Further information is available in the Commonwealth Gazette Notice.
Are you on our distribution list?
This newsletter is prepared by the Offshore Exploration Section, Resources Division, Department of Industry.
If you or your colleagues would like to receive this newsletter, please send your email address to: alternatively, if you would like to be removed from the distribution list, please email with the subject line ‘Remove’.
If you change your email address please notify the Offshore Exploration Section.
There is no charge for this service. This distribution list is not used for purposes other than notifying registered parties of relevant petroleum issues.
Postal Address: GPO Box 1564, CANBERRA ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA
E-mail:
Website: www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au
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www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au