The South Australian part of the Cooper Basin had been under licence continuously since 1954, however on 27 February 1999 Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs) 5&6 expired. The former PEL 5&6 area is being released in four bidding rounds over 1998?2000, with a planned total of 27 blocks on offer for the first three rounds. The first round commenced in October 1998 when eleven blocks flanking the Cooper Basin (CO98-A to K) were released. Applications for those blocks closed on 11 March 1999 and a total of 41 bids were received from 15 consortia. This keen bidding resulted in 11 exploration licences being offered to 6 consortia who will invest a total of $45 million during the next 5 years. The second round of eight core Cooper Basin blocks (CO99-A to H) in the Patchawarra Trough was released in April 1999 (Fig. 1). Applications for these blocks closed on 25 November 1999 and a total of 47 bids were received from 16 consortia. This has resulted in 8 exploration licences being offered to 7 consortia who will invest a total of $120 million during the next 5 years.