"The resulting exploration work will significantly advance understanding of the petroleum potential of Australia's vast offshore areas, particularly in deepwater frontier areas and hopefully lead to major discoveries," said Acting Federal Resources Minister Joe Hockey.

The permits range from small tracts close to producing oil fields, where there is ready potential to capitalise on new discoveries, through to large, deepwater frontier areas.

NT/P65 is adjacent to the major Sunrise-Troubadour gas and condensate discoveries in the Bonaparte Basin. NT/P66, also in the Bonaparte Basin, is next door to the Blacktip gas discovery, which is now being considered for commercial development.

T/34P, awarded to a Origin Energy/Woodside joint venture, is in a lightly explored area of the Otway Basin to the south west of the recent Thylacine and Geographe gas discoveries which are also being considered for commercial development. WA-345-P is adjacent to commercial oil and gas fields in the Barrow Sub-Basin.

The guaranteed work program for T/34P includes the acquisition of a 3D seismic survey in year 2, and the drilling of a well in Year 3.

Four other permits (WA-341-P to WA-344-P) are adjacent to the proven, but geologically complex Cornea discoveries in the Browse Basin off the north coast of Western Australia.

WA-346-P is the first permit from the 2002 release round to be awarded over the Exmouth Plateau area of the Carnarvon Basin. Here, explorers will push beyond the relatively well known and commercially proven areas to open the possibility of significantly extending the life of Australia's major hydrocarbon producing basin.