The SMH has an article on a "Plan to drill for oil off NSW coast", with the would be explorers hoping to have a drilling rig exploring the area in May next year and touting estimates of 1 billion barrel find.

An Australian joint venture is planning to drill off the NSW coast in search of oil and gas in a move that has outraged green groups. The venture says the skyrocketing world oil price has made it feasible to establish a drilling rig 22 kilometres offshore between the Central Coast and Newcastle, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reports.

One of the firms, Perth-based MEC Resources, says air surveys indicate there is petroleum at the target site. The listed company told the Australian Stock Exchange on Friday: "MEC was reviewing new data from an airborne survey conducted east of Newcastle which detected evidence of petroleum seeps on the sea surface." ... The MEC report estimates undersea reserves of up to 1 billion barrels of oil and enough gas to meet Sydney's needs for a decade. It is seeking shareholder approval to restructure its oil and gas assets to improve access to capital for exploration.

[Update: The Brasilian press is reporting wide criticism to Haroldo Lima who at the moment is denying he announced the find: “I haven't announced anything, nor did I used that word [anoucement] at any moment.” (hat tip Carolus Obscurus).]

Reuters reported yesterday:

Haroldo Lima told reporters the find, known as Carioca, could contain 33 billion barrels of oil equivalent, five times the recent giant Tupi discovery. That would further boost Brazil's prospects as an important world oil province and the source of new crude in the Americas.

"It could be the world's biggest discovery in the past 30 years, and the world's third-biggest currently active field," Lima, head of the government's oil and fuel market regulator, told reporters at an industry event in Rio de Janeiro.