AMB2020: Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction and Petroleum Act Zones

Geoscience Australia's Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020 (AMB2020) is a GIS data product defining the legal maritime limits of Australia's jurisdiction, including external territories. The dataset is a digital representation of zones under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Storage Act 2006, updated to reflect the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty. It provides the territorial sea baseline and outer limits for maritime zones, covering waters from approximately 8°S to 70°S and 39°E to 174°E.

Use Cases

• Delineating offshore petroleum exploration blocks based on the scheduled areas defined in the Act.
• Legal and treaty compliance analysis for maritime activities using the updated 2018 Timor Sea Treaty boundaries.
• Maritime spatial planning and jurisdictional assessment using the territorial sea baseline and zone limits.
• GIS mapping of Australia's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf for resource management.

Strengths

• Published by the authoritative national agency, Geoscience Australia, in consultation with key government departments.
• Explicitly updated for a specific international agreement (2018 Timor Sea Treaty, including Bayu-Undan Offshore Area).
• Provides a wide geographical coverage of Australia's full marine jurisdiction, including external territories.

Limitations

• Key metadata (row count, column names, license, author) is missing from all provided platform entries.
• The dataset carries a legal disclaimer that statutory limits prevail in case of inconsistency with the digital data.
• Currency is listed as August 2019, but platform 'last updated' metadata shows future dates (2026), indicating potential metadata conflicts or errors.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, developed in consultation with the Attorney-General's Department, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

Collection Method

Official delineation and digital representation of legal maritime limits and boundaries.

Time Range

Snapshot as of August 2019 (AMB2020 version).

Freshness

Data currency is August 2019, though platform metadata lists a last updated date of 2026-06-16.

Geography

Australia's marine jurisdiction, including mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories, approximately 8°S to 70°S and 39°E to —174°E.