New generation of explorers

Submitted 10/03/2009

www.southaustralia.biz

Bidding has opened for five petroleum exploration licences in the Cooper Basin in South Australia's northeast.

Minister for Mineral Resources Development Paul Holloway says the licences form the first major release of Cooper Basin blocks since the highly successful acreage releases in 1998-2000.

Those releases opened the basin to a new generation of explorers, Mr Holloway says.

"These new explorers have confirmed the basin as an excellent exploration investment destination, as well as driving a significant increase in South Australian oil production," he says.

Bidding for the licences - which range in area from a minimum 666 sq km to at least 3,035 sq km - closes on 15 October 2009.