Chevron Australia, Beach Energy, and Woodside Energy/Kufpec have paid a total of A$11.1 million for three cash bid exploration permits offshore Western Australia and Victoria. The permit leaseholds are for 6 years.
New permit Vic/P73 was won by Beach subsidiary Lattice Energy Ltd. It lies in the offshore Otway basin, 50 km south of Warrnambool in western Victoria. Lattice was the sole bidder with a bid of $4 million.
New permit WA-536-P in the north Carnarvon basin, 150 km west of Dampier in Western Australia, was successfully bid by joint applicants Woodside Energy and KUFPEC for $5.1 million. There was one other bid for the permit.
New permit WA-537-P in the north Carnarvon basin 240 km west of Onslow in Western Australia was awarded to Chevron Australia with a bid of $2 million. Chevron was the sole bidder.
Two other Western Australian blocks were also part of the auction. One received an unsuccessful bid; the other did not receive any prequalification applications. Both have now reverted to vacant acreage.
Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said the cash bid auction was held on Feb. 7 as part of the 2018 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. It was the last cash bid auction for the foreseeable future, he said. The focus will now be on work program bidding.
