The Government of Australia has released 21 new areas for oil and gas exploration under the 2017 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage.
The areas are situated across eight basins off the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and in the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands.
Australian Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said that the annual release will support the government’s strategy to boost domestic gas supply by exploring new potential oil and gas areas.
Canavan said: “There are 20 areas available for work programme bidding, where petroleum companies need to submit comprehensive exploration plans, across a mixture of mature and lightly explored basins.
“A further area open for cash bidding is located in the highly prospective Dampier Sub-Basin of WA’s Northern Carnarvon Basin.
“Following strong bidding on round two of the 2016 acreage release, I hope to see this momentum continue to this year’s release.”
All areas identified for exploration under this annual acreage will be supported by expert analysis from Geoscience Australia.
Experts would be nominated by industry, subject to a comprehensive assessment process including public consultation.
Situated at 25m-4,200m water depth, the areas vary in size ranging from 161km-2,465km², reported oedigital.com.
The newly released acreage covers a diverse range of geological settings.
