Petroleum geological summary of the 2012 offshore acreage release for petroleum exploration

Abstract

The Australian Government formally releases new offshore exploration areas at the annual APPEA conference. In 2012, 27 areas in nine offshore basins are being released for work program bidding. Closing dates for bid submissions are either six or twelve months after the release date, i.e. 8 November 2012 or 9 May 2013, depending on the exploration status in these areas and on data availability.

As was the case in 2011, this year’s Release again covers a total offshore area of about 200,000 km2. The Release Areas are located in Commonwealth waters offshore Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania (Fig. 1). Areas on the North West Shelf feature prominently again and include under-explored shallow water areas in the Arafura and Money Shoal basins and rank frontier deep water areas in the outer Browse and Roebuck basins as well as on the outer Exmouth Plateau.

Following the recent uptake of exploration permits in the Bight Basin (Ceduna and Duntroon sub-basins), Australia’s southern margin is well represented in the 2012 Acreage Release. Three new areas in the Ceduna Sub-basin, four areas in the Otway Basin, one large area in the Sorell Basin and two areas in the eastern Gippsland Basin are on offer.

Multiple industry nominations for this Acreage Release were received, confirming the healthy status of exploration activity in Australia. The Australian government continues to support these activities by providing free access to a wealth of geological and geophysical data.