Annual Release of Australian Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage
The Australian Government encourages investment in petroleum exploration through the annual release of offshore petroleum exploration acreage. The Acreage Release is underpinned by Australia's stable economic environment and well-established regulatory framework for offshore petroleum actives.
The 2010 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release was announced by the Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, the on 17 May 2010.
The 2010 Acreage Release areas are located across five basins. Release areas have been carefully selected to offer a range of investment opportunities; areas vary in size, known prospectivity, water depth and level of existing geological data and knowledge. Areas are supported by pre-competitive geological and geophysical data and analysis by Geoscience Australia.
The 2010 Acreage Release has two closing rounds:
- Competitive bids for areas included in 2010 Round One must be received by the relevant Designated Authority by 4PM on 11 November 2010--(now closed).
- Competitive bids for areas included in 2010 Round Two must be received by the relevant Designated Authority by 4PM on 12 May 2011.
Details on areas release in the 2010 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release is available through the online information package. Copies can also be obtained by emailing: petroleum.exploration@ret.gov.au
Areas that do not attract bids during the initial release may be re-released for further bidding. The re-release of an area is at the discretion of the Joint Authority. Areas that are currently open for bidding can be found on the Areas Currently Open for Bidding page.
Follow these links to the:
Please note: the Acreage Release websites contain links to external organisations and businesses outside of the Department's domain. Linking to external websites does not imply endorsement of the products, services and opinion offered by those sites.