Petroleum lease

You can apply for a petroleum lease over an area of your authority to prospect (ATP) if you make a discovery that is currently commercially viable. If the lease is granted, the area is excised from the ATP.

Note: You can also apply for a petroleum lease in response to a call for tenders, in which case a pre-existing ATP is not required.

Permitted activities

A petroleum lease gives you the right to:

• explore for petroleum
• test for petroleum production
• produce petroleum.

Environmental authorities

Before we grant a resource authority you will require the appropriate environmental authority.

Native title

Any native title requirements will need to be addressed before we grant an authority.

Main features of a petroleum lease

Australian domestic market supply condition

An Australian market supply condition may be attached to a petroleum lease.

The condition means that the authority holder must only sell gas produced from the lease to customers within Australia. The objective is to increase gas supplies and lower prices for domestic users.

Refer to the Operational policy – Complying with the Australian market supply condition (PDF, 663KB) for details of how the requirements of the condition can be met.

Amalgamation of petroleum leases

You can apply to amalgamate 2 or more petroleum leases into a single lease as long as:

• all of the holders of the individual leases agree to the proposed amalgamation
• the holders of the amalgamated lease will be the same as the holders of the individual leases.

The petroleum leases do not need to be contiguous, but the proposed development plan must justify how the areas will be used in a single operation. Refer to s. 170D of the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 for details.

The amalgamation provisions do not apply to petroleum leases granted under the Petroleum Act 1923. However, if you are the holder 2 or more petroleum leases under the Petroleum Act 1923, you may apply to amalgamate the leases into a single petroleum lease issued under the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004, at the time of lodging a replacement petroleum lease application. Refer to s. 107B and 908 of the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 for details.

How to apply

You can apply online for a petroleum lease through MyMinesOnline or using a hard-copy form. You can also apply through a call for tenders.

Petroleum lease under the Petroleum Act 1923

If you hold an authority to prospect issued under the Petroleum Act 1923, you can apply to have a petroleum lease issued under that Act. A lease can be granted for a maximum of 30 years and a maximum area of 260km². The area applied for cannot be within the area of a coal or oil shale resource authority.

You must apply in writing and include the information detailed in s. 40 of the Act. Contact us for more information before lodging this application.

Also consider...

• Read our guide to the application process for resource authorities for general information about lodging an application.
• Find out how to comply with your resource authority and the land access code.