2015 Onshore Petroleum Acreage Release

Abstract

Australian state and territory acreage opportunities and recent activities are summarised in this paper. Exploration opportunities continue to exist for petroleum explorers in onshore basins, including a number of sedimentary basins that have previously largely been overlooked, with an increased focus (and commercial success) on basin centred gas, tight gas and shale gas plays.

Access to onshore acreage in Australia for petroleum exploration is, in most jurisdictions, by means of a formal release process with a work program bidding system. Over-the-counter applications are available in some states based on perceived basin prospectivity.

Australian state and territory governments continue initiatives to encourage exploration to realise their natural resource endowments. This includes pre-competitive basin studies, cost-effective and speedy provision of digital exploration data, transparent regulatory regimes, provision of effective land access regimes, internationally competitive royalty regimes, and promotion of acreage releases nationally and internationally.