Offshore petroleum exploration extended

AUSTRALIA’s 2018 offshore petroleum exploration areas were released at the annual Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) Conference in Adelaide recently.

A total of 21 areas have been released for offshore petroleum exploration. They are located in the Bonaparte Basin, Browse Basin, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Bight Basin, Otway Basin and Gippsland Basin. 

Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan said the Federal Government’s annual release of offshore petroleum exploration acreage encouraged investment and contributed to the responsible development of Australia’s oil and gas resources.

He said all release areas were supported by industry nominations indicating that interest in exploring offshore Australia’s basins “remains strong” despite the significant decrease in the number of exploration wells drilled in recent years.

In order to attract robust industry participation in the bidding process, the released areas are selected to reflect geological and geographical diversity to cater for the full gamut of petroleum exploration companies.

Mr Canavan said Geoscience Australia continued to support industry activities by acquiring, interpreting and integrating pre-competitive datasets that are made freely available as part of the agency’s regional petroleum geological studies.

The regional evaluation of the petroleum systems in the Browse Basin have been completed and work continues on assessing the distribution of Early Triassic source rocks and related petroleum occurrences across the North West Shelf.

www.appea.com.au

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