COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006

NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR CASH‑BID PETROLEUM EXPLORATION PERMIT APPLICATION

I, GRAEME ALBERT WATERS, the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA), on behalf of the Commonwealth-Western Australia Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority (the Joint Authority), pursuant to section 110 of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (the Act), hereby invite prequalification applications for cash-bid petroleum exploration permits in respect of the blocks and within the areas described below.

Applicants must submit a prequalification application in order to be invited to make a cash bid for a release area. In assessing a prequalification application, the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority must be satisfied that the applicant has the technical and financial capabilities to explore for petroleum in offshore areas.

Prequalification applications for the release areas must be received, in the manner prescribed below, by 4:00 pm Australian Western Standard Time on Thursday, 20 October 2016.

Applicants that satisfy the prequalification criteria will be invited by the Joint Authorities to submit a cash‑bid for an area or areas. One cash‑bid auction will be held for each release area. The invitation will provide details on how to submit the cash‑bid.

Cash bid exploration permits awarded in respect of the release areas cannot be renewed.

Cash‑bid exploration permits awarded from the release areas will not be subject to any work program conditions or legal obligations other than those contained within the Act and associated Regulations or within Directions issued in accordance with the Act or Regulations.

SCHEDULE OF AREAS: Graticular Block ListingS

Release Area W16-17

Exmouth Plateau, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 50 (HAMERSLEY RANGE)

Map Sheet SE 50 (ROWLEY SHOALS)

Assessed to contain 2 full blocks

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W16-17 cannot be renewed.

Release Area W16-22

Dampier Sub-basin, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 50 (HAMERSLEY RANGE)

Assessed to contain 2 full blocks

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W16-22 cannot be renewed.

Release Area W16-25

Exmouth Plateau, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 49 (CLOATES)

Assessed to contain 2 full blocks

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W16-25 cannot be renewed.

 PREQUALIFICATION APPLICATIONS

Prequalification applications for cash‑bid exploration permits in relation to the above release areas must be accompanied by:

1. the details of the applicant;
2. the area(s) on offer for which the applicant wishes to prequalify;
3. details of the technical qualifications of the applicant and of the applicant’s employees and  the technical advice available to the applicant;
4. details of the financial resources available to the applicant.

Matters that the Joint Authority will take into account in deciding under section 111 whether to invite an applicant to make a cash‑bid.

The Joint Authority must be satisfied that the applicant has the technical and financial capability to explore for petroleum in offshore areas. In deciding whether to invite the applicant to make a cash‑bid, the Joint Authority will take the following matters into account: 

a)      that the applicant has financial resources available and the ability to continue as a going concern, and

b)     that the applicant has access to a range of technical skills to satisfy the Joint Authority of its technical competence to explore for petroleum in offshore areas.  The Joint Authority will also consider the technical capacity and experience of key personnel and/or sub-contractors.

For further details of the expectations of the Joint Authorities in relation to the content of applications or the prequalification criteria, please refer to section 110 of the Act and the Cash‑Bidding Guideline available at http://www.nopta.gov.au/legislation/guidelines.html.

FEE

Prequalification applications must be accompanied by payment of an application fee paid by way of electronic funds transfer. The amount of the fee is prescribed in Regulations under the Act and at the time of printing was $A7,500.00 which is GST free.[1]

If paying by electronic funds transfer, please make payment to the following account:

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS

One (1) prequalification application can be submitted for all cash‑bid acreage release areas which the applicant intends to bid on. The applicant may be a joint venture comprised of more than one company.

The prequalification application must be completed and submitted using the prescribed prequalification application form and signed by all applicants.  The prescribed prequalification application form is available at

 http://www.nopta.gov.au/forms/forms.html.

One (1) electronic copy in text search format of the prequalification application, together with evidence of payment of the application fee, must be submitted to the NOPTA by email to: cash.bidding@nopta.gov.au.

Email attachments must not exceed 10MB in size. Should the attachments exceed 10MB, applicants are required to split into numerous emails with a clear subject line reference to indicate that a group of emails should be considered as multiple parts of the one application (e.g. part 1 of 2, part 2 of 2). Please note that hard copy applications are not required. A receipt of prequalification application will be issued by NOPTA to the applicant.

The email subject line must clearly state “Prequalification Application for Cash‑Bid Area, Commercial-in-Confidence”.

Prequalification opens on 11 August 2016 and closes on Thursday 20 October 2016 at 4:00 pm Australian Western Standard Time.  Applications submitted after this time will not be accepted.

Please check the NOPTA website prior to submitting an application for further updates on submissions.

For more information or assistance relating to the lodgement of applications, please contact NOPTA:

Telephone (Perth Office):  +61 8 6424 5317

Email: cash.bidding@nopta.gov.au

Website: www.nopta.gov.au

[1] Please note that application fees are subject to change. Applicants should refer to the application fee stated in Schedule 6, Part 1 of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Resource Management and Administration) Regulations 2011 or confirm with NOPTA prior to submitting an application - http://www.nopta.gov.au/cost.html.