Petroleum Exploration and Development Titles: Key

The following is a summary of the Petroleum Exploration and Development Titles: Key [PDF_939 KB], a supporting document to accompany the map showing the Petroleum Tiles in Australia in force at 1 May 2003.

• General remarks
• Petroleum legislation and titles
• Offshore areas
• Onshore areas
• State and Territory Mines Departments - key sector contacts
• Australian Government - key sector contacts

General remarks

'Title' is a general word used to cover all types of authorities, permits, licences and leases throughout Australia, regardless of the specific names given to them by the various States and Territories.

'Expiry Date' means the date of expiry of current tenure. There may be rights to renewal for further periods, in some cases, over a reduced area.

Where two or more companies are listed, an asterisk following the name of a company means that the company is the operator in that particular title.

The Petroleum Exploration and Development Titles Map and this Key are based on information supplied by the various State and Territory Departments of Mines and additional details should be obtained directly from them

Petroleum legislation and titles

Under the Australian Constitution, responsibility for the development of petroleum resources is shared between the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments. Ownership of petroleum resources is reserved to the Crown and vested in the Government of the State or Territory in which they occur.

There are three principal acts relevant to petroleum exploration and production in Australia:

Commonwealth of Australia

• Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967

State and Territory

• Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act
• Petroleum or Mining Act

Offshore areas

Beyond three nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline, petroleum operations are subject to Australian Government legislation known as the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967. Within that limit and within coastal waters, complementary State and Territory legislation applies, also known as the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act. The Commonwealth Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 established Joint Authorities for the offshore area adjacent to each State and the Northern Territory. Each Joint Authority consists of the Australian Government Minister for Resources and the relevant State Minister for Mines (the latter being known as the Designated Authority).

The Joint Authorities decide all important questions of title arising under the legislation. Offshore the area is divided, for tenement purposes, into graticular blocks each being five minutes of latitude by five minutes of longitude. Titles to explore for and develop petroleum are issued and administered by the relevant Designated Authority (ie, the State or Northern Territory Mines Minister) following consultation with the Designated Authority's Department. A three-stage title system operates under which a permit is issued to cover all forms of exploration, followed by either a retention lease or a production licence if a discovery is made.

The maximum area for an offshore exploration permit is 400 graticular blocks (between 25,900 and 31,000 square kilometres) but there is no limit to the number of permits that any one company can hold. Permits are issued for an initial period of six years and may be renewed for five-year periods (usually over half the original area). A production licence surrounding a discovery may include a maximum of nine blocks and is issued for an initial term of 21 years.

If the discovery is not commercially viable for immediate development, but is likely to be commercially viable within 15 years, the permittee(s) may be granted a retention lease over the area pending development. A retention lease may be granted for a five-year term with renewal periods of five years.

Permits are issued either under a work program system, or in selected areas which are considered highly prospective, a cash-bidding system.

In December 1989 the Australian and Indonesian Governments signed a treaty allowing the area commonly referred to as the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation to be jointly administered. Three distinct areas made up the Zone of Cooperation in the Timor Sea: Area A under joint administration; Area B under Australian jurisdiction; and Area C controlled by the Indonesian authorities. Area A, divided into 14 Production Sharing Contract areas, was opened for competitive bidding on 24 June 1991. On 12 December 1991, 11 production sharing contracts were approved for an initial period of six years for petroleum exploration in Area A of the Zone of Cooperation in the Timor Sea.

The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) became Australia's partner in the Timor Gap Treaty, under an arrangement which will apply in the transitional period until East Timorese independence. The agreement was negotiated in 1999/2000 in close consultation with East Timorese representatives.

On 5 July 2001, the Hon. Alexander Downer, MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Senator the Hon. Nick Minchin, MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Resources; and East Timorese and United Nations representatives initialled and endorsed a new Timor Sea Arrangement (Arrangement) to govern petroleum development in the Timor Sea. The area previously referred to as the Zone of Cooperation Area A is now known as the Joint Petroleum Development Area.

Onshore areas

In onshore areas, each State and mainland Territory operates under its own individual legislation:

The two-stage system of permit and licence has generally been adopted. Exploration permits vary generally in name, initial and renewal terms, maximum area, relinquishment provisions, method of application and expenditure requirements. A production licence is required before engaging in commercial production of petroleum; it relates to a much smaller area than the exploration permit and is of a much longer duration (eg. 21 years in Western Australia and the Northern Territory).

Further details about the titles applications, State charges and arrangements may be obtained from the State or Territory Mines Department responsible for administering the areas (see list).

State and Territory Mines Departments - key sector contacts

Australian Government - key sector contacts