2009 Offshore Petroleum Acreage

Release
Outline of Presentation
• Deepwater drilling
successes in
Australia
• Why Australia is an
attractive
investment
destination.
• Process of awarding
exploration permits.
• Summarise the
2009 Acreage
Release.
Fellow presenters
Tom Bernecker
Geoscience Australia
Review of the 2009 offshore petroleum
exploration release areas

Jennifer Totterdell
Geoscience Australia

Bight Basin Acreage Release - New Exploration

Opportunities In A Deep Water Frontier

Ian Scrimgeour
Acting Executive Director of Regional
Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and
Resources - Northern Territory

Onshore Releases across Australian States and

Territories
Deep water drilling success…
Deepwater wells (over 500 metres) success rates
9

7
Number of occurrences

0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
success dry
Australia is a world class investment
destination…
•Australia is very well regarded.
•Regarded stable, possesses good fiscal terms, and has
unexplored acreage with much potential.
•14th out of 81 jurisdictions for having the lowest barriers to
investment.
Government activity

• Review of exploration
incentives in Energy White
Paper and Henry Tax Review
• Productivity Commission's
Review
• Designated Frontier Areas
incentive extension
2009 Acreage Release Areas
31 areas released across
5 basins:
 Bonaparte, NT.
 Browse, WA.
 Carnarvon, WA.
 Bight, SA.
 Otway, Vic.

6 Designated Frontier
Areas:
 3 in Carnarvon Basin.
 3 in Bight Basin.
Special Release
 The Australian
Selection of Release Areas
• Nominations sought each year

• Assessment and short listing process

• Extensive stakeholder consultations

• Proposed areas announced in December through the Australian Petroleum News

• 2009 Release Package available now

Exploration Permits
• Work Program Bidding system

• Application must contain technical

assessment, exploration program over
6 years and technical and financial
capacity

• Assessments based on published

assessment criteria, capacity to
undertake proposed work and
program most likely to advance
exploration status

• Conditions specify that work must be

completed in year specified and that
there is limited flexibility in first 3 years

• Cancellation and permit surrender

2009 Acreage Release Package
• Comprehensive information package
available
• Closing dates are 3 December 2009 and
29 April 2010 for the first and second
rounds of bidding respectively.
• The areas contained within the Special
Release close concurrently with the first
round of the Principal Release.
• Both CD-Rom packages now available
from Australian Government stand. Also
available on web:

www.ret.gov.au/petexp/