You will need this licence if you intend to secure title over a currently non-commercial petroleum, geothermal, gas storage or regulated substance in the area of your exploration licence for a reasonable period of time until it becomes commercial.
A retention licence will allow you to conduct operations to:
- establish the nature and extent of a discovery of regulated resources
- establish the commercial feasibility of production and appropriate production techniques.
There are four categories of licence:
- petroleum retention licence (PRL)
- geothermal retention licence (GRL)
- gas storage retention licence(GSRL)
- regulated substance retention licence (RSRL).
The area of a petroleum or regulated substance retention licence must not exceed either of the following:
- twice the area under which (according to a reasonable estimate at the time when the licence was granted or last renewed) the discovery is likely to extend; and
- 10,000 km2 .
The area of a geothermal retention or gas storage retention licence cannot exceed 1,000 km2.
