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Updated:
22 April 2008
April 2008
22 April 2008
UN confirms Australia's extended marine jurisdictionAustralia's submission for jurisdiction over an additional 2.5 million square kilometres of seabed has been confirmed by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Commission has confirmed the location of the outer limit of Australia's continental shelf in nine distinct marine regions, which entitles Australia to large areas of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. This decision means Australia now has jurisdiction over an extra 2.5 million square kilometres of continental shelf, which is almost five times the size of France, almost ten times the size of New Zealand, and approximately the same size as Western Australia. In these areas, Australia has exclusive rights to what exists on the seabed, including oil, gas and biological resources. "This is a major boost to Australia's offshore resource potential and also to our ability to preserve the marine environment on the seabed," Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, said. The confirmation is in response to a submission made through a close partnership between Geoscience Australia, the Attorney General's Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "It is the culmination of 15 years of cutting edge work, carried out under Geoscience Australia's Law of the Sea and Maritime Boundaries Advice project", Geoscience Australia's Chief Executive Officer, Neil Williams said. "The dedication and ongoing commitment shown by the project team has resulted in this fantastic outcome for Australia", he said. Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the continental shelf extends at least 200 nautical miles from Australia's coastline. Australia is also entitled to the submerged prolongation of its landmass extending beyond 200 nautical miles (the so-called extended continental shelf), to limits defined in the 1982 Convention. To confirm Australia's entitlement, Geoscience Australia analysed an enormous amount of new data gathered on 17 marine surveys conducted over eight years in some of the most remote and inhospitable parts of the world's oceans. 16 April 2008
Geoscience Australia and APPEA - Energising changeGeoscience Australia has once again played a major part in the annual Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) Conference and Exhibition. Held in Perth, the 2008 conference was attended by more than 2500 delegates, making it the largest gathering of Australia's oil and gas exploration and production industry in the southern hemisphere. Themed Energising Change, the four day conference involved plenary sessions, a technical and commercial program, and networking events. It provided delegates with information on the latest challenges, developments and opportunities facing the industry, including the role of government in opening up exploration frontiers. The conference also featured the annual release of acreage for bidding by petroleum exploration companies. As with previous years, Geoscience Australia supported the acreage release through the provision of precompetitive data outlining the geology of each area. During his opening address the Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, noted Geoscience Australia's role in the annual acreage release. "Geoscience Australia's current pre-competitive work is highly respected by the petroleum exploration industry for its provision of leading-edge, low cost, high-quality information", Minister Ferguson said. 'We are committed to Geoscience Australia's continuing work in this area and it will form part of the exploration incentives package I have asked my department to prepare in consultation with the industry and the Treasury", he said Geoscience Australia also sponsored the technical program, Frontier Potential, and presented papers on onshore seismic data, the offshore energy security program, the oil and gas potential of old basins and the assessment of seepage studies in Australian waters. More information on the 2008 APPEA Conference and Exhibition, can be found on the conference website. 4 April 2008
A SHRIMP broadens scientific scopeIn an absolute contradiction an instrument called SHRIMP weighs 12 tonnes and measures six metres long, but will allow scientists at Geoscience Australia to analyse trace elements within individual minerals smaller than a grain of sand. It is a Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe, or SHRIMP, and it will provide an important stream of geological data to encourage mining exploration investment though the provision of pre-competitive data and vital scientific information for researchers investigating the geological history of Australia. Opening Geoscience Australia's new SHRIMP laboratory, the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, the Hon. Martin Ferguson said the new in-house facility will significantly increase the amount of high quality data about the ages of Australian rocks collated by the agency for its partners in the State and Territory geological surveys and mining companies. "Australia is developing a sophisticated understanding of how the timing of geological events millions or even billions of years ago have produced the mineral and energy resources we depend on today," Mr Ferguson said. "As the need grows to look deeper in the crust to locate new world-class mineral deposits in Australia, the new SHRIMP will allow Geoscience Australia to be more directly involved in research to develop a greater understanding of the geological potential of onshore Australia," he said. The SHRIMP is an Australian hi-tech success story which has been developed during 20 years of design and innovation at the Australian National University. The complex instruments are built by Australian Scientific Instruments in the Canberra suburb of Fyshwick and have been exported to laboratories in Japan, the United States and China.
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