Northern Carnarvon Basin

There are 39 release areas in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore north-western Australia.

Release area locations:

• Barrow, Dampier and Exmouth Sub-basins
• Lambert Shelf
• Exmouth Plateau

Regional geology

• View petroleum geology information for the Northern Carnarvon Basin provided by Geoscience Australia.
• For wells and survey information search the interactive NOPIMS database

Maps and shapefiles

Maps show the release areas in bathymetric detail. They also include other permit locations, known petroleum accumulations and wells. Shapefiles show the areas in vector format for geographic information system software.

See  all release area maps in this basin [3.21MB PDF]

View high resolution release area maps:

• Northeastern Exmouth Plateau release area map [2.32MB JPG]
• Lambert Shelf release area map [767KB JPG]
• Eastern Exmouth Plateau release area map [914KB JPG]
• Dampier Sub-basin release area map [1.44MB JPG]
• Barrow Sub-basin release area map [1.43MB JPG]
• Exmouth Sub-basin release area map [1.12MB JPG]
• Northern Exmouth Plateau release area map [1.03MB JPG]
• Central Exmouth Plateau release area map [980KB JPG]

Download  shapefiles of the 2019 acreage release areas [148KB ZIP]

Block diagrams

Block diagrams show the coordinates of release area boundaries.

See  all block diagrams in this basin [864KB PDF]

View block diagrams:

• Northeastern Exmouth Plateau block diagram [191KB JPG]
• Lambert Shelf block diagram [243KB JPG]
• Eastern Exmouth Plateau block diagram [523KB JPG]
• Dampier Sub-basin block diagram [340KB JPG]
• Barrow Sub-basin block diagram [355KB JPG]
• Exmouth Sub-basin block diagram [322KB JPG]
• Northern Exmouth Plateau block diagram [836KB JPG]
• Central Exmouth Plateau block diagram [699KB JPG]

Block listings

Block listings provide the graticular block numbers and 1:1,000,000 map sheet references that identify each release area.

View block listings:

•  Northeastern Exmouth Plateau block listing [22KB DOCX]
•  Lambert Shelf block listing [23KB DOCX]
•  Eastern Exmouth Plateau block listing [24KB DOCX]
•  Dampier Sub-basin block listing [20KB DOCX]
•  Barrow Sub-basin block listing [20KB DOCX]
•  Exmouth Sub-basin block listing [23KB DOCX]
•  Northern Exmouth Plateau block listing [27KB DOCX]
•  Central Exmouth Plateau block listing [22KB DOCX]

See  all block listings in the 2019 acreage release areas [45KB DOCX]  [873KB PDF]

Single blocks

According to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, release areas that are 1 graticular block in size cannot be renewed for a further permit term.

There are 16 single block release areas in this basin.

Marine parks

The following areas overlap with  marine parks.

• The Argo-Rowley Terrace Multiple Use Zone (IUCN VI) overlaps with release area W19-8.
• The Montebello Multiple Use Zone (IUCN VI) overlaps with release area W19-18 and W19-20.
• The Montebello Islands Marine Park (Class A), a Western Australia state government marine park, is adjacent to release area W19-20.
• The Gascoyne Multiple Use Zone (IUCN VI) overlaps with release area W19-26.
• The Ningaloo Recreational Use Zone (IUCN IV) is approximately 9km southeast of W19-26.

How to bid

Work-program bidding closes on 5 March 2020.

Find out how to file your application.

Review the Offshore Petroleum Exploration Guideline: work-bid.