About petroleum activities

The Northern Territory (NT) owns all petroleum resources - both onshore and in coastal waters in the NT.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade administers and regulates petroleum tenure and activities in these areas.

The Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security administers laws and regulates industry to mitigate and manage risks to the environment posed by onshore petroleum activities.

This includes resource exploration and development, and the construction and operation of oil and gas facilities and transmission pipelines.

Legislation

Petroleum exploration and production is governed by the following legislation:

• Petroleum Act 1984 is the principal legislation dealing with onshore petroleum exploration and production in the NT.
• Petroleum Regulations 2020 outline land access laws for petroleum activities including processes for conducting low impact activities and airborne operations, and obtaining necessary land access agreements. The regulations also detail content requirement for resource management, activity and infrastructure plans, activity and incident notifications, reporting and other requirements.
• Petroleum (Transitional) Regulations 2023 - provide transitional arrangements for changes to the petroleum legislation made in 2023. These regulations will be repealed after 2 years.
• Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1981 caters for tenure, exploration and production activities in the 3 nautical mile strip of NT coastal waters.
• Petroleum (Environment) Regulations 2016 ensures that regulated activities are carried out in a manner consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development and that environmental risks and impacts associated with onshore petroleum development are mitigated and managed to levels as low as reasonably practicable and acceptable.

Exploration and production in waters beyond the 3-mile limit comes under the Australian Government's National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA).

For more information about offshore petroleum, go to the Australian Government's NOPTA website.

Petroleum titles

Before any petroleum exploration or production can commence, you must have a petroleum title.

Read more about petroleum titles .

Approval for exploration and production

When you have been granted a petroleum title, your exploration or production activities must be conducted under approved plans.

Read more about approval of resource management, activity and infrastructure plans and petroleum pipelines .

Report an activity

If you witness any activity which concerns you, you can report it to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade by calling 08 8999 6350 or emailing dittpetroleum.operations@nt.gov.au.

The department can then investigate the issues you raise.

You may choose to notify the department anonymously or leave your name and phone number if you would like someone from the department to get back to you.