At present, oil and gas reserves information is provided by industry and compiled and published by government.

Concerns have arisen about the accuracy, precision and consistency of the reported reserves data; the inability of the government to independently verify and validate reserves estimates; and the lack of visibility of the upside potential at existing fields to both the government and industry stakeholders.

The paper presents three options to address these concerns:

• Carrying out more extensive analysis of existing information, but with no regulatory change;

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• Extending the information reporting requirements to include information on a wider range of potential resources, in a similar way to the United Kingdom; or

• Extending the reporting requirements further to allow the government to come to a full independent assessment of reserves estimates.

Feedback on the options paper closes at 5pm on Friday, 10 September 2010.