Australia's oil resources may last a decade at current production rates, making supply security a ``major concern,'' said energy minister Martin Ferguson.
Australia will review all oil and gas leases granted to explorers for their ``commerciality,'' Ferguson said today at a conference in Darwin. Oil and gas field permit holders must work the fields if they can be profitably developed, he said.
The nation's spending on exploration jumped 57 percent last year to a record A$2.66 billion ($2.6 billion) even as the number of wells drilled fell because equipment and labor shortages drove up costs. Explorers need to boost work in frontier areas to avoid a A$28 billion petroleum trade-deficit within a decade, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association said in April.
bloomberg