The Australian Government administers policy which encourages petroleum exploration in Australia's offshore areas. The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism strives to provide a stable, transparent and internationally competitive offshore exploration investment regime. Each year, following consultation with stakeholders, the Department releases offshore petroleum exploration acreage for competitive bidding by prospective explorers.
The Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release remains the key mechanism for the government to encourage offshore petroleum exploration in Australia. The annual release of acreage for petroleum exploration enables long term planning for the industry, access to comprehensive geological and geophysical data on CD-ROM and through the website, and provides high-quality information about issues that may need to be taken into consideration by applicants.
The Department also manages, in partnership with the states and the Northern Territory, the award of exploration permits. Exploration permits are awarded to those applicants who will undertake the fullest assessment of an area's petroleum potential. Following discovery of a petroleum resource, the successful explorer will have the right to produce the resource and to construct pipelines and other infrastructure, subject to development approvals to ensure appropriate regard to safety, the environment and good oil field practice.
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