Northern Carnarvon Basin

There are 19 release areas in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore north-western Australia.

Release area locations:

• Beagle, Dampier, Barrow and Exmouth Sub-basins
• Exmouth Plateau

Regional geology

• View petroleum geology information for the Northern Carnarvon Basin from 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 [2.72MB PDF]

View high resolution release area maps:

• Beagle Sub-basin release area map [1.72MB PNG]
• Dampier Sub-basin release area map [2.1MB PNG]
• Barrow Sub-basin (north) release area map [1.58MB PNG]
• Barrow Sub-basin (south) release area map [1.40MB PNG]
• Exmouth Sub-basin release area map [1.77MB PNG]
• Exmouth Plateau (central) release area map [1.53MB PNG]
• Exmouth Plateau (south) release area map [1.64MB PNG]

Download shapefiles of all acreage release areas [127KB ZIP]

Block diagrams

Block diagrams show the coordinates of release area boundaries.

See all block diagrams in this basin [588KB PDF]

View block diagrams:

• Beagle Sub-basin block diagram [346KB JPG]
• Dampier Sub-basin block diagram [383KB JPG]
• Barrow Sub-basin block diagram [235KB JPG]
• Exmouth Sub-basin block diagram [267KB JPG]
• Exmouth Plateau (central) block diagram [397KB JPG]
• Exmouth Plateau (south) block diagram [313KB JPG]

Block listings

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

See all block listings in this basin [449KB PDF] [39KB DOCX]

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.

W20-25 is a single block release area in this basin.

Marine parks

The following areas overlap with marine parks.

• The Montebello Multiple Use Zone (IUCN VI) is near release areas W20-15 and W20-16.
• The Gascoyne Multiple Use Zone (IUCN VI) overlaps with release area W20-20.

The Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has published information on state conservation reserves near release areas.

How to bid

Work-program bidding closes on Tuesday 1 June 2021.

Find out how to file your application.

About these files

If you experience any difficulty accessing this information, please email Petroleum.Exploration@industry.gov.au