News: OXX Octanex not granted petroleum retention leases for Ascalon gas discovery, page-5

I refer to the Oct 2016 guidelines http://www.nopta.gov.au/_documents/guidelines/RL-Guideline.pdf

When the refusal decision is made, "The declaration of a location must be revoked by the joint authority".

"If the Joint Authority refuses to grant an application for a retention lease for a block(s) the permittee should consider what continuing rights it may be entitled to in relation to that block(s) under the exploration permit."

I find it incredible for the authority to determine the development is not likely to be commercially viable within 15 years when there are already pipelines throughout the basin. The authority had the opportunity to impose additional conditions in the retention lease for the applicant to regularly report back on actions taken on the viability blockers the authority identified. The authority can then review that information and decide whether to continue to grant the retention lease. The authority wants to move the resource towards development without unreasonable delay.

No wonder OXX is seeking an explanation.