Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PETROLEUM (SUBMERGED LANDS) FEES AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2001 (NO. 1) 2001 NO. 207

STATUTORY RULES 2001 No. 207

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources

Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Act 1994

Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Amendment Regulations 2001 (No. 1)

Section 7 of the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Act 1994 (the Act) states that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Subsection 4(1) of the Act states, in part, that the holder of an infrastructure licence under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 must pay a fee in respect of each year of the term of the licence. Paragraph 4(2)(b) of the Act states that the fee is to be specified in, or calculated in accordance with, the regulations.

The purpose of the Amendment Regulations was to prescribe $18,000 as the annual fee in respect of an infrastructure licence.

The need for the Regulation prescribing the annual infrastructure licence fee arose from amendments made to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 in 2000, which, among other things, added infrastructure licences to the provisions of that Act. Infrastructure licences allow a company to construct and/or operate facilities for various processing or control activities in or near an oil-field where the operator does not have a production licence over the area in which the facilities are or will. be located.

The fees prescribed under the Act cover the costs incurred by the States and Northern Territory in administering offshore petroleum titles under joint arrangements with the Commonwealth. The administrative burden of administering an infrastructure licence is considered similar to that of administering a production licence. The minimum annual fee that is payable for a production licence is $18,000. Accordingly, the States and the Northern Territory endorsed the proposal to prescribe $18,000 as the annual fee for infrastructure licences.

Details of the Regulations are set out below.

Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations

This Regulation provided the title of the Regulations.

Regulation 2 - Commencement

This Regulation provided for the Regulations to commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 - Amendment of Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Regulations

This Regulation provided that the amendments to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Fees Regulations 1994 are as set out in Schedule 1.

SCHEDULE 1        AMENDMENTS

Item 1 - Regulation 1

This item brought the citation of the principal Regulations into line with current practice.

Item 2 - After regulation 6

This item inserted the new Regulation 6A "Infrastructure licence fees" which prescribed $18,000 as the annual fee payable by the holder of an infrastructure licence.