U.N. commission extends Australian sea rights

by Rich Bowden - Apr 22 2008, 01:54

Australia has secured rights to an additional 2.5 million square kilometers of ocean shelf following a ruling by a U.N. court.

After a fifteen-year claim for sovereignty over the additional area, the ruling gives the Australian government the right to explore in new areas for oil and gas. Though some of the claim covers Antarctic territories, the Australian resources minister Martin Ferguson told reporters there would be no exploration in Antarctic waters.

"I am pleased to announce that Australia, the largest island in the world, has just been dramatically increased in size," said the resources minister, adding that the increased area was around twenty times the area of the UK.

He said though the oil and gas reserves in the area was unknown, exploration could now begin in the territory for resources such as oil and gas.

"The truth of the matter is that they have been hardly explored," he said. "This is potentially a bonanza. We have got unknown capacity up there."

Mr Ferguson said the decision was important for Australia's future exploration and development of its resources.

"It means for a resource-rich nation such as Australia, added resource entitlements going to issues of oil and gas," he said. "But also you might say additional responsibilities in terms of the floor of the seabed."

The U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a body charged with administering the 1994 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, ruled that Australia's continental shelf extends farther than had been defined under previous rulings.

The court ruled after successive Australian governments sought clarification on the extent of control the country had over the sea bed.

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