Notice of Invitation for Cash Bid Exploration Permit Application

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006

NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR CASH BID EXPLORATION PERMIT APPLICATION

I, GRAEME ALBERT WATERS, the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator, on behalf of the Commonwealth-Western Australia Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority, pursuant to section 110 of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (the Act) of the Commonwealth of Australia, hereby invite prequalification applications for cash bid exploration permits in respect of the graticular blocks within the release areas W14-20, W14-21, W14-22 and W14-23 as described in the following schedule.

Applicants must submit a prequalification application in order to be invited to make a cash bid for a release area. In assessing a prequalification application, the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority must be satisfied that the applicant has the technical and financial capabilities to explore for petroleum in offshore areas.

Prequalification applications for release areas W14-20, W14-21, W14-22 and W14-23 must be received, in the manner prescribed below, by 4:00 pm Australian Western Standard Time on Thursday 30 October 2014.

Applicants that satisfy the prequalification criteria will be invited by the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority to submit a cash bid for an area or areas. One cash bid auction will be held for each release area. The invitation will provide details on how to submit the cash bid.

Cash bid exploration permits awarded in respect of release areas W14-20,
W14-21, W14-22 and W14-23 cannot be renewed.

Cash bid exploration permits awarded from the release areas will not be subject to any work program conditions or legal obligations other than those contained within the Act and associated Regulations or within Directions issued in accordance with the Act or Regulations.

SCHEDULE OF AREAS: Graticular Block ListingS

Release Area W14-20

Rankin Platform, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 50 (Hamersley Range)

Assessed to contain 1 block

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W14-20 cannot be renewed.

Release Area W14-21

Barrow Sub-basin, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 50 (Hamersley Range)

Assessed to contain 1 block

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W14-21 cannot be renewed.

Release Area W14-22

Exmouth Plateau, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SF 50 (Hamersley Range)

Assessed to contain 3 blocks

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W14-22 cannot be renewed.

Release Area W14-23

Caswell Sub-basin, Browse Basin, Western Australia

Map Sheet SD 51 (Brunswick Bay)

Assessed to contain 2 blocks

A cash bid exploration permit awarded in respect of release area W14-23 cannot be renewed.

PREQUALIFICATION APPLICATIONS

Prequalification applications for cash bid exploration permits in relation to the above release areas must be accompanied by:

1. the details of the applicant;
2. the area(s) on offer for which the applicant wishes to prequalify;
3. details of the technical qualifications of the applicant and of the applicant’s employees and  the technical advice available to the applicant;

Details of the technical qualifications of the applicant and its key employees and details of the technical advice available to the applicant (by way of consultants or other providers) that would enable it to explore for petroleum in offshore areas. Where a third party provider will be used to undertake petroleum activities, evidence of conditional agreements (or similar initial consultations) should be provided.

d.     details of the financial resources available to the applicant.

Evidenced by the latest financial reports for the applicant, including but not limited to the most recent:

-          Statement of Profit and Loss and Other Comprehensive Income

-          Statement of Financial Position

-          Statement of Cash Flows

and

Evidence of the financial resources available to the applicant demonstrating that the applicant has the ability to continue as a going concern.  This evidence may include:

-          Annual Report including Director’s declaration of ability of the entity to continue as a going concern

-          independent auditors report or accountants certified statement in support of the entity’s financial statements and ability to continue as a going concern

-          parent company guarantee: e.g. a deed of cross guarantee or a guarantee provided by the parent company on corporate stationery is also sufficient 

-          other guarantee: e.g. a bank guarantee, or guarantee from an accountant’s of a certified statement of an individual’s capacity to fund (high net worth individuals)

Matters that the Joint Authority will take into account in deciding under section 111 whether to invite an applicant to make a cash bid.

The Joint Authority must be satisfied that the applicant has the technical and financial capability to explore for petroleum in offshore areas. In deciding whether to invite the applicant to make a cash bid, the Joint Authority will take the following matters into account: 

a)      that the applicant has financial resources available and the ability to continue as a going concern, and

b)     that the applicant has access to a range of technical skills to satisfy the Joint Authority of its technical competence to explore for petroleum in offshore areas.  The Joint Authority will also consider the technical capacity and experience of key personnel and/or sub-contractors.

For further details of the expectations of the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority in relation to the content of applications or the prequalification criteria, applicants should give due consideration to section 110 of the Act and the content of the publically available  Cash Bidding Guideline at http://www.nopta.gov.au/legislation/guidelines.html, as well as the informative factsheets included as part of the annual Australian Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release information package at www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au/2014.

FEE

Prequalification applications must be accompanied by payment of an application fee.  The amount of the fee is prescribed in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Resource Management and Administration) Regulations 2011 and at the time of printing was $A2,090.00 which is GST free. Please note that application fees are subject to change and applicants should refer to http://www.nopta.gov.au/cost.html prior to submitting an application.

Payment details can be found on the application form available at http://www.nopta.gov.au/forms/forms.html.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS

One (1) prequalification application can be submitted for all cash bid acreage release areas which the applicant intends to bid on. The applicant may be a joint venture comprised of more than one company.

The prequalification application must be completed and submitted using the prescribed prequalification application form and signed by all applicants.  The prescribed prequalification application form is available for download from the website of the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) at

 http://www.nopta.gov.au/forms/forms.html.

One (1) electronic copy in text search format of the prequalification application, together with evidence of payment of the application fee, must be submitted to the NOPTA by email to: cash.bidding@nopta.gov.au.

Email attachments must not exceed 10MB in size. Should the attachments exceed 10MB, applicants are required to split into numerous emails with a clear subject line reference to indicate that a group of emails should be considered as multiple parts of the one application (e.g. part 1 of 2, part 2 of 2). Please note that hard copy applications are not required. A receipt of prequalification application will be issued by NOPTA to the applicant.

The email subject line must clearly state “Prequalification Application for Cash Bid Area, Commercial-in-Confidence”.

Prequalification opens on 8 April 2014 and closes on Thursday 30 October 2014 at 4:00 pm Australian Western Standard Time.  Applications submitted after this time will not be accepted.

Please check the NOPTA website prior to submitting an application for further updates on submissions.

For more information or assistance relating to the lodgement of applications, please contact NOPTA:

Telephone (Perth Office):  +61 8 6424 5317

Email: cash.bidding@nopta.gov.au

Website: www.nopta.gov.au