AUSTRALIA HAS granted offshore petroleum exploration permits to four companies including BP and Woodside to operate in Western Australia state and South Australia, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson's office said on Monday.
The permits were the first in these areas to be issued since 2000, the statement said, adding the government was satisfied that there was sufficient attention to safety after the catastrophic spill when BP's rig exploded and sank off Louisiana last year.
"Permits have been awarded to Finder No.4 Pty Ltd, Woodside Energy Pty Ltd, Riverina Energy Pty Ltd and BP Exploration (Alpha) Ltd," the office said in a media statement.
Ferguson's office said the projects across the seven permits would drive an extra A$682 million in guaranteed offshore petroleum exploration investment over the next three years, even as the government prepares to hit miners with a deeply unpopular profits-based tax.
BP Exploration (Alpha) Ltd had been awarded four permits for the frontier area of the Ceduna Sub-basin within the Bight Basin off South Australia, the office said.
Ferguson said the permits awarded to BP follow an extensive assessment and due diligence process in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, examining the technical and financial competence of BP to undertake the work under stringent Australian legislation.
Additional conditions had also been attached to these permits, emphasizing the need for best practice behavior by the operator.
"I am satisfied that we have put in place the appropriate safeguards and note BP's commitment to work with government and regulators to ensure the highest possible safety standards as they carry out this work," he said.
The exploration work programs proposed by BP included over 11,400 square km of 3D seismic surveying within the first two operational years along with the drilling of four exploration wells in the third operational year (anticipated in 2013 or 14).
This represents the most comprehensive geological analysis ever undertaken in the Bight Basin.
Another three permits had been awarded to Finder No.4 Pty Ltd, WoodsideEnergy Pty Ltd and Riverina Energy Pty Ltd, covering the highly prospective Carnarvon Basin, which remains the country's leading offshore petroleum-producing area.
Australia has a A$16 billion trade deficit in crude oil, refined products and LPG which is expected to rise, possibly as high as A$30 billion by 2015.
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