Exploration and access policy

Petroleum exploration has four key drivers – geological prospectivity, access to explore, geoscientific information, and an appropriate fiscal and regulatory setting.

APPEA has put forward comprehensive policy proposals in each of these areas to stimulate exploration. While governments have taken positive steps in some areas, further action is needed in others.

Without major new discoveries, Australia’s petroleum trade deficit will grow to around $30 billion per annum by 2015. Addressing this deficit requires major exploration programs. Australia is underexplored – vast onshore and offshore basins potentially containing enormous untapped resources remain undrilled. New incentives are needed to attract exploration investment and enhance Australia's energy security.

Legislation and regulation

APPEA remains engaged with the Federal Government on the offshore legislation. APPEA provided comments on consolidation of regulations under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, particularly on reservoir management and data management regulations.

In 2009/10, APPEA also made a landmark submission on the need to preserve the existing legislative framework for retention leases within the offshore regime and to improve transparency in granting and renewing retention leases.

Similarly, APPEA continues to advocate that legislative frameworks for new resources such as geothermal energy do not impinge on existing oil and gas exploration and production rights. APPEA argues that wherever possible legislation should allow the petroleum sector and new industries to coexist. APPEA has also proposed the introduction of a reconnaissance form of exploration permits for acreage releases in new frontiers.

APPEA also continues to provide input to various state and territory reviews of specific onshore petroleum legislation to ensure that the rights of the upstream oil and gas industry titleholders continue to be preserved.

Across Australia, APPEA has been working with federal and state government ministers and senior bureaucrats to address the country’s complex and overlapping regulatory systems.

Revised regulations have streamlined processes and reduced the compliance burden. Particular progress has been made in Western Australia, which has made legislative changes to appeals processes and improved the environmental impact assessment process. WA has also established a lead agency framework. But the state has yet to follow through in implementing many of its good ideas. Indeed, further reform is needed in all Australian jurisdictions and APPEA will continue working with the relevant ministers and departments to achieve this.

Land Access

Timely access to land and sea is necesssary to facilitate exploration and assessment of prospective hydrocarbon resources. The uncertainties of native title in the early 90s are now becoming less of an issue as States and Northern Territory undertake various successful native title processes. APPEA continues to call on various State and Northern Territory Governments to facilitate negotiations between applicants for petroleum tenure and indigenous native title holders to reach an agreement in an expedient manner. This will facilitate early exploration and lead to the development of petroleum discoveries.