The federal government has given BP permission to explore for new oil reserves off the Australian coast for the first time since the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the government had awarded the embattled energy giant four permits to explore for oil and gas in the Ceduna Sub-basin in the Bight Basin off South Australia.
The permits follow an extensive assessment that examined BP's ability to undertake the work in accordance with Australia's stringent requirements, Mr Ferguson said.
Additional conditions have also been attached to the permits to ensure best practice, he said.
"BP has accepted those conditions," Mr Ferguson told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
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He declined to detail the extra conditions but said they would be gazetted later this week.
"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 that highest possible safety standards as they carry out this work," he said.
It is the first time Australia has granted additional rights to BP since the April 2010 blowout at BP's Macondo well that killed 11 workers and spewed almost five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said it planned to commence seismic surveying later this year. Drilling would not take place until 2013 at the earliest, it said.
"The Ceduna Sub-basin is a very exciting new exploration area for BP," said Phil Home, managing director of BP's Australian upstream oil and gas business.
"Our experience tells us that the geology has a high potential for containing hydrocarbons."
The BP permits add to three awarded in recent months to companies Woodside, Finder No 4 and Riverina Energy to explore in the Carnarvon Basin off Western Australia.
The seven permits will result in a guaranteed exploration investment of $682 million over the next three years, Mr Ferguson said.
"Our energy security will be greatly enhanced by opening up new geological frontiers and reducing our dependence on imports," he said.
SA's Minister for Mineral Resources Development Paul Holloway said the permits created the potential for almost $1.5 billion in spending on the search for petroleum.
"This area possibly contains large oil and gas accumulations, which if discovered, would significantly increase energy security locally and nationally," Mr Holloway said.
A key component of the comprehensive assessment of BP Exploration's bids was consideration of the lessons drawn from the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr Holloway said.
"Indeed, lessons learned from the events at Montara in offshore Northern Territory and Macondo in the Gulf of Mexico have been taken into account through specific conditions placed on these permits."
