Anatomy of a land release

Historically the Galilee Basin has been explored for both conventional petroleum and coal seam gas; however, in comparison to other sedimentary basins of a similar age in Queensland, the Galilee Basin remains relatively under explored. This paper takes an in-depth look at a single land release for petroleum exploration in the Galilee Basin made in 2008. In the short term, this led to a flurry of activity across the basin, but in the longer-term most of the awarded tenures have ceased to exist. This raises the question of how we might measure the success of a land release. Is it by the number of applicants eager to secure acreage, or is it by the long-term success of those applicants? And how do we factor in the unforeseen impacts of global economic crises, oil price changes, regulatory uncertainty and poor social licence when assessing the tenures and ultimately the land release? This paper reviews how each tenderer, along with a few existing tenure holders who were already operating in the basin in 2008, have fared since the grants of their tenure. Exploration in the Galilee Basin is continuing, but commercial success remains elusive.