“The new permits in Commonwealth waters off Western Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory will see an additional $320 million invested in offshore exploration over the next six years,” Macfarlane said.

“This is in addition to the $1 billion, which petroleum explorers plan to invest over the next six years from the 12 permits that I announced last month.”

Macfarlane said Australia was continuing to receive strong interest from both local and global petroleum explorers, especially in the Browse Basin.

“This interest is testament to Australia’s record of successful development of major offshore gas projects and our reputation as a reliable supplier of liquefied natural gas to export markets,” he said.

The seven new permits comprise:

• Two in the Gippsland Basin off Victoria, granted to Great Artesian Oil & Gas;

• One in the Gippsland Basin to Eagle Bay Resources;

• One in the northeastern Bonaparte Basin off the NT granted to Alpha Oil & Natural Gas;

• One in the Browse Basin’s Caswell Sub-basin, off WA to ConocoPhillips Australia and Karoon Gas; and

• Two in the Caswell Sub-basin to Woodside Energy.

The new permits will be jointly administered by the Australian Government and the respective State and Territory governments.