Petroleum minimum standards

The Petroleum Minimum Standards and Merit Assessment Procedure sets the NSW Government’s framework for determining applications to grant, renew, transfer and assess active petroleum prospecting titles.

Download a full version of Minimum Standards and Merit Assessment Procedure (PDF, 478.12 KB) published on September 2015.

As part of the Mining, Exploration and Geoscience's (MEG) compliance processes, where there is evidence of non-performance or non-compliance with minimum standards without satisfactory justification, these will be considerations to determine if a prospecting title should be cancelled or not renewed. These matters, in addition to an applicant's corporate, compliance and environmental performance history will also be considered when assessing applications for the grant, renewal and transfer of titles.

Consistent with the NSW Resource Regulator's Compliance and Enforcement Approach, any actions to refuse or cancel a prospecting title will be proportionate to the non-compliance identified and the seriousness of any non-compliance.

New prospecting title applications that include National Parks, nature reserves and other areas excluded by legislation will not be accepted and will be returned to the applicant.

The new Petroleum prospecting minimum standards (PDF, 160.91 KB) will apply to all petroleum titles granted or renewed from February 2023 and detail the mandatory criteria required to be satisfied to meet the minimum standards for petroleum titles and how MEG will apply them.