The 2009 licensing round includes 31 release areas (red blocks) in five basins, ranging from frontier to mature. (Image courtesy of Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy, and Tourism)
Despite its reputation as a proven petroleum province, Australia still has plenty of acreage to offer.

Its next licensing round, with some bids due Dec. 3, 2009, and others due April 29, 2010, will include 31 release areas in five basins. Areas to be leased range from frontier to mature and offer opportunities for exploration companies of all sizes.

There are many reasons that Australia is an attractive area for exploration:
• Extensive opportunities to explore in prospective basins;
• Access to free or low-cost comprehensive, high-quality geoscientific databases;
• A highly educated workforce and pool of skilled petroleum professionals;
• Location — Australia is a part of the burgeoning Asia-Pacific market;
• A free market philosophy that welcomes foreign companies — Australia has no mandatory local equity requirements and no government-owned oil companies;
• Government facilitation of proposed projects; and
• An open and competitive economy.

The areas included in the upcoming acreage release round are the Ceduna Sub-Basin, Central Otway Basin, Dampier Sub-Basin, Malita Graben, Northern Exmouth Plateau, Rankin Platform, Southern Browse Basin, and Western Otway Basin. These basins and release areas are off the North and South sides of Western Australia as well as the southern part of Victoria and the northern part of Tasmania.

As part of its energy initiative, Australia announced a new funding program in 2006 to provide continued access to recent data over its offshore areas. The funding covers the period from 2006 to 2011 and is intended to focus on new frontier offshore areas prioritized through consultation with the industry. Additional funding has been allocated to identify potential onshore energy sources such as petroleum and geothermal energy.

The period between July 2007 and June 2008 has produced more than 200 terabytes of data from the Geoscience Australia archive.

Available data includes government-generated geoscientific maps and datasets, government reports of previews exploration, open-file exploration databases, GIS data, and access to data rooms and data packages in support of the annual offshore acreage release.

Applications must contain all of the following:
• The applicant’s technical assessment of the petroleum potential of the area, including the concepts underlying its proposed exploration program;
• A minimum guaranteed proposal, including exploration wells to be drilled, seismic and other surveying activity, data evaluation, and other work for each of the first three years of the permit;
• A secondary work program, including operational activities that will advance exploration of the area for years four, five, and six;
• Information about the applicant company; and
• Other information that the applicant wishes to submit.

In most cases, permits can be renewed for two more five-year terms after the initial six-year term.

This information and more can be found at here