Acreage Release and Promotion Project
Overview
Each year, the Australian Government formally releases new offshore exploration areas during the annual Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference. Geoscience Australia supports these releases by work carried out by the Basin Resources Group. The work focuses on the evaluation of available open file petroleum geological data to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the release areas. Such evaluations are provided as geological reports complemented by a listing of supportive data-sets that can be obtained free of charge.
In order to attract further investment and/or to attract newcomers to Australia’s exploration and production scene, the Basin Resources Group regularly advertises emerging opportunities at several industry meetings throughout the year. Apart from the annual APPEA Conference the Basin Resources Group exhibits nationally at the Good Oil Conference in Fremantle, at the Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium (EABS), last held in Sydney in 2008, and the Western Australian Basins Symposium (WABS), last held in Perth in 2002. Internationally, the focus has been on North American Prospect Expo (NAPE) which attracts over 12 000 delegates every February in Houston, Texas. NAPE is a 'Team Australia' activity, involving participation from State and Territory departments and Australia’s presence at the event is now well established within the International Pavilion.
Status
OngoingAchievements to date
The annual Acreage Release provides explorers with new opportunities to invest in Australia’s oil and gas sector. Normally around 30 offshore areas are released every year comprising a mix of shallow-water and deep-water areas, areas close to existing hydrocarbon production and known prospectivity as well as underexplored and rank frontier regions.
In recent years, the Acreage Release Project was supported by research carried out in offshore frontier areas as part of the offshore component of the Australian Government’s Energy Security Initiative. Three dedicated teams of geoscientists acquired, interpreted and integrated new data sets to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s offshore frontier regions. The following areas were supported by Geoscience Australia’s new research:
- Vlaming Sub-basin, offshore Western Australia (2008)
- Ceduna Sub-basin, offshore South Australia (2009)
- Mentelle Basin, offshore Western Australia (2010).
Topic contact: petroleum@ga.gov.au Last updated: May 31, 2012
