Australia has opened up bids for 30 oil and gas blocks under the 2014 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release, the country’s Department of Industry has announced.
The 30 areas are located across four basins in the offshore areas of the Northern Territory, the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and Western Australia.
26 areas are available for work program bidding, and 4 areas are available for cash bidding.
Work Program Round 1 bids for the first 14 areas close on October 2, 2024
Work Program Round 1 bids are NT14-1, NT14-2, NT14-3, AC14-2, AC14-3, AC14-4, W14-2, W14-3, W14-4, W14-5, W14-7, W14-14, W14-15 and W14-16.
Work Program Round 2 for 12 areas close on April 2, 2015.
Round 2 consists of. AC14-1, W14-1, W14-6, W14-8, W14-9, W14-10, W14-11, W14-12, W14-13, W14-17, W14-18 and W14-19.
The Cash Bid Round are W14-20, W14-21, W14-22 and W14-23.
Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane said,“The 2014 Acreage Release includes for the first time since the 1980s several areas for cash bidding. These four areas are considered mature in exploration status and will be attractive to explorers. There are also 26 areas available for work program bidding in the highly prospective Northern Carnarvon and Browse Basins and the under-explored Bonaparte Basin … Following strong industry interest in the Great Australian Bight off southern Australia, the 2014 Release also includes a large work program area in the frontier Eyre Sub-basin of the Bight Basin.”
