Announcing the results today, Australian Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said 21 bids were received for the 11 areas, where the winners have committed to spending $800 million on exploration.

The areas are in Commonwealth waters off Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, and include four permits in designated frontier areas (DFAs), where companies are entitled to more favourable tax rates.

“The high number of bids and the huge investment companies are prepared to make shows the great interest in Australian offshore petroleum exploration,” Macfarlane said.

“More than $800 million will be invested over the next six years to explore Australian oil and gas opportunities, taking total investment in the 2006 offshore petroleum acreage release to almost $2.2 billion.”

In the Carnarvon Basin, off Western Australia, one permit was awarded to a joint venture of Woodside Energy and Hess Exploration (WA-404-P), and two permits to Gerald Nelson (WA-400P, WA-401-P).

Santos won one permit (T/48P) in the Sorrell Basin, off Tasmania, while two permits (NT/P75, NT/P74) in the Northern Arafura Basin, off Northern Territory, were awarded to Samson International.

Five permits in Western Australia’s Bonaparte Basin were won by CNOOC (WA-406-P) Total E&P Australia (WA-402-P, WA-403-P), Goldsborough Energy (WA-407-P) and Reliance Industries (WA-405-P).

Macfarlane said this year had seen a big increase in new companies applying to explore in Australian waters.