AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 129.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.53 (-0.41%)
BOP 6.76 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.2%)
CNERGY 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-2.81%)
DCL 8.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-2.68%)
DFML 41.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.69 (-1.66%)
DGKC 81.30 Decreased By ▼ -2.47 (-2.95%)
FCCL 32.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.27%)
FFBL 74.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.22 (-1.62%)
FFL 11.75 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (2.44%)
HUBC 110.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-0.47%)
HUMNL 13.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-5.22%)
KEL 5.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.86%)
KOSM 7.63 Decreased By ▼ -0.77 (-9.17%)
MLCF 38.35 Decreased By ▼ -1.44 (-3.62%)
NBP 63.70 Increased By ▲ 3.41 (5.66%)
OGDC 194.88 Decreased By ▼ -4.78 (-2.39%)
PAEL 25.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-3.38%)
PIBTL 7.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-3.79%)
PPL 155.74 Decreased By ▼ -2.18 (-1.38%)
PRL 25.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.03 (-3.85%)
PTC 17.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-4.88%)
SEARL 78.71 Decreased By ▼ -3.73 (-4.52%)
TELE 7.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-5.17%)
TOMCL 33.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-2.61%)
TPLP 8.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-7.17%)
TREET 16.26 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-6.93%)
TRG 58.60 Decreased By ▼ -2.72 (-4.44%)
UNITY 27.51 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.29%)
WTL 1.41 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (2.17%)
BR100 10,450 Increased By 43.4 (0.42%)
BR30 31,209 Decreased By -504.2 (-1.59%)
KSE100 97,798 Increased By 469.8 (0.48%)
KSE30 30,481 Increased By 288.3 (0.95%)

british_petroleum_400SYDNEY: Australia on Monday gave BP permission to explore for oil off its south coast, saying the company had agreed to integrate lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico spill in its operations.

The troubled energy giant was among a group of companies awarded seven new permits to explore for oil and gas off South and Western Australia.

Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said BP had agreed to "fully integrate lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon incident into its systems and processes", referring to the April 2010 blowout at BP's Macondo well.

The accident left 11 workers dead and spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

"I am satisfied that we have put in place the appropriate safeguards and note BP's commitment to work with government and regulators to ensure the highest possible safety standards as they carry out this work," Ferguson said.

Australia is offering new leases as it attempts to meet its growing energy demands and Ferguson said increasing exploration was "essential to finding Australia's next offshore petroleum province".

"Australia has a Aus$16 billion trade deficit in crude oil, refined products and liquefied petroleum gas which is expected to rise, possibly as high as Aus$30 billion by 2015," he said.

"Our energy security will be greatly enhanced by opening up new geological frontiers and reducing our dependence on imports."

Ferguson said that BP Exploration Alpha Ltd. had won four permits for exploration off South Australia after an "extensive assessment" by regulators.

The British energy company plans to conduct 3D seismic surveying of some 11,400 square kilometres (4,400 square miles) within the first two years, followed by the drilling of four exploration wells in either 2013 or 2014.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011

Comments

Comments are closed.