Australia, currently third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Asia Pacific region and the fourth largest in the world, has awarded seven new offshore petroleum exploration permits in the gas-rich areas offshore the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson announced Thursday.

The new exploration permits, part of the second round of the ministry's 2011 Exploration Acreage Release, could translate to an estimated $277 million in new investment in offshore areas off the mentioned areas over the next three years.

"There continues to be a strong and growing interest in Australia's prospectivity from both domestic and international companies with 19 bids for seven areas received," Mr Ferguson said in a statement. "These new exploration permits raise the potential to discover new oil and gas reserves, which will underpin new projects, provide more jobs and support the Australian economy."

The permits were awarded to Tangiers Petroleum, Shell Development (Australia), Pathfinder Energy, Repsol Exploration, Liberty Petroleum Corporation, Woodside Energy, Japan Australia LNG, Murphy Australia Oil, Kufpec Australia and Samsung Oil & Gas Australia.

"Exploration is vital for the future of Australia's resources sector, and the Australian Government is committed to working with industry to enhance our international competitiveness and ensure the long-term growth of this important industry," Mr Ferguson said, noting the ministry has received 19 bids from both domestic and international companies on the seven areas alone.

"These new permits have the potential to increase project development opportunities and strengthen our energy security and export capacity," he added.

Australia exports LNG worth more than $12 billion annually. At present, seven LNG projects are being built in Australia. Once completed, these projects will boost the country's total capacity to more than 80 million metric tonnes year, and could help propel the resource-rich nation become the world's largest LNG exporter, the minister said.

Four of the new projects draw from gas fields in Western Australia: Gorgon, Prelude, Wheatstone and Ichthys. The other three are in Queensland: Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG), Gladstone LNG (GLNG) and Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG).