The Australian Federal Government will be accepting nominations submitted for consideration in the 2021 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release until 27 October 2020. It is planned that this date will allow for the 2021 acreage release to realign with the APPEA Conference with the final release to be held on 14-17 June 2021. The nomination window for the 2021 acreage release commenced on 1 February 2020 after the 2020 nomination period closed on 31 January 2020.  The 2021 round will be the third under new, streamlined policies (announced in 2018). A key change means that nomination submissions are permitted at any time with a cut-off date designating which release round it shall be considered for. Previously, nominations of acreage could only be submitted during a set timeframe.  The government has reported that all nominations will be considered, but that nominating an area does not guarantee its inclusion in the round. Companies are not required to bid for areas they nominated, but it is indicated that "nominations should demonstrate a genuine intent to start activities in the immediate term". It is also reported that though there are no restrictions on the number of nominations that can be submitted, this may be evaluated if "areas are not routinely bid on" or if "nominations consistently lack a well-considered rationale".
The Australian Federal Government will be accepting nominations submitted for consideration in the 2021 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release until 27 October 2020. It is planned that this date will allow for the 2021 acreage release to realign with the APPEA Conference with the final release to be held on 14-17 June 2021. 