Australian Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane said the data room would provide expert interpretation by scientists, saving exploration companies time and cost.

“Companies can also purchase the comprehensive data package for their own in-house analysis,” he said yesterday at the facility’s opening at Geoscience’s Canberra headquarters.

“Industry will be able to scrutinise this information prior to bidding in the Australian Government’s annual acreage release program for petroleum exploration.”

The last time Australia was self-sufficient in oil was in 2000, but this has since dropped to 58%. Unless more discoveries are made, Geoscience expects the country’s self-sufficiency to drop a further 33% by 2015.