Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020: Offshore Petroleum Act Zones

August 2019 data from Geoscience Australia provides a digital representation of Australia's maritime zones under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. The dataset covers the Australian marine jurisdiction, including external territories, from approximately 8°S to 70°S latitude and 39°E to 174°E longitude. It incorporates updates such as the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty.

Use Cases

• Mapping offshore petroleum exploration zones based on the scheduled areas defined in the Act.
• Analyzing maritime jurisdiction for legal or regulatory compliance based on the territorial sea baseline and outer limits.
• Visualizing changes in maritime boundaries, such as the Bayu-Undan Offshore Area, based on treaty updates.

Strengths

• Produced by Geoscience Australia in consultation with key Commonwealth agencies like the Attorney-General's Department.
• Updated to reflect specific legal changes, including the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty.
• Provides explicit geographic coverage coordinates (8°S to 70°S, 39°E to 174°E).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Delineation of maritime limits and boundaries by the national geoscience authority.

Time Range

Currency: August 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 17:18:29.639921; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia including all external territories, Australian marine jurisdiction.