25 March 2015
Update on Legislative and Regulatory Amendments
On 20 March 2015, two offshore amendment bills received Royal Assent and commenced in
full on that day – details can be found below:
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
Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Miscellaneous
Measures) Act 2014 (Miscellaneous Measures Act)
Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment
(Designated Coastal Waters) Act 2014 (Regulatory Levies Act).
On 19 March 2015, the following bills were passed by both houses of Parliament:


Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Miscellaneous
Matters) Bill 2015 (Miscellaneous Matters Bill)
Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment
(Miscellaneous Matters) Bill 2015 (Regulatory Levies Bill).
The Department of Industry and Science expects these two bills to receive Royal Assent
within the fortnight. Details of the two bills were detailed in the February 2015 edition of the
Australian Petroleum News.
Miscellaneous Measures Act
This Miscellaneous Measures Act contained two key measures as described below.
Expansion of definition of designated coastal waters
The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (the Act) permits the States
and Northern Territory to confer functions and powers on the National Offshore Petroleum
Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) in respect of their
‘designated coastal waters’.
These areas were previously defined as waters seaward of the territorial sea baseline by
three nautical miles. This meant functions and powers could not be conferred by the relevant
State or Northern Territory on NOPSEMA with respect to waters landward of the territorial
sea baseline and within the limits of the States or Northern Territory.
To this end, the Miscellaneous Measures Act expands the definition of ‘designated coastal
waters’ to also cover all waters landward of the territorial sea baseline, including the internal
sea waters of the States and Northern Territory.
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This increases the ability of the States and Northern Territory to confer functions and powers
on NOPSEMA over a wider geographic area and therefore maximises the potential to
streamline regulatory arrangements between the States and Northern Territory and the
Commonwealth in respect of all offshore petroleum activities.
Eligible Voluntary Actions
Previously the Act provided that, where there are multiple registered holders of a single title,
this group of titleholders may only undertake an ‘eligible voluntary action’ once they have
nominated one titleholder in the group to act on behalf of all the other titleholders. This
resulted in some confusion among titleholders as to procedural requirements when taking
eligible voluntary actions and consequential administrative inefficiencies.
The Miscellaneous Measures Act provides an additional second administrative arrangement
for multiple titleholders to validly take eligible voluntary actions. It provides that multiple
titleholders may choose between either using the existing nominations process or by affixing
the signatures of all titleholders to the relevant documentation.
Further, the Miscellaneous Measures Act clarifies that if a nomination for a titleholder to
make ‘eligible voluntary actions’ ceases to be in force because it is revoked by another
titleholder or because the titleholder ceases to be a registered titleholder, any eligible
voluntary actions validly taken by the nominated titleholder before the nomination ceased
remain valid.
Regulatory Levies Act
The Regulatory Levies Act amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage
(Regulatory Levies) Act 2003 as a consequence of amendments to the definition of
designated coastal waters. For constitutional reasons, the Regulatory Levies Act specifically
limits the operation of the levy regime so that it applies only to the waters covered by the
current definition of designated coastal waters, and not to the expanded definition as
provided by the amendments in the Miscellaneous Measures Act.
Any queries regarding the recent legislative amendments can be directed to Jessica Brown,
Manager Legislation Review, Offshore Resources Branch on jessica.brown@industry.gov.au
or 02 6243 7134.
Petroleum exploration opportunities –
2014 Acreage Release round 2
Closing date Thursday 2 April 2015
This round includes 12 areas and two rerelease areas from round 1. Entities that have
entered into a Good Standing Arrangement with the Joint Authority are encouraged to
review the rerelease areas. It is the responsibility of entities that have entered into a Good
Standing Arrangement to maintain good standing with the Joint Authority.
Geoscience Australia provides precompetitive geological data associated with the release
areas at the cost of transfer; the data package can be ordered by emailing
ausgeodata@ga.gov.au.
Please note the website contains the most up to date information.
AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM NEWS | www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au
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Area
Basin
Sub basin
AC14-1
Bonaparte
Vulcan
W14-1
Bonaparte
Petrel
W14-6
Northern Carnarvon
Rankin Platform
W14-8, W14-9, W14-10, W14-11,
W14-12 and W14-13
Northern Carnarvon
Exmouth Plateau
W14-17 and W14-18
Northern Carnarvon
Exmouth
W14-19
Bight
Eyre
W14-3
Browse
Caswell
W14-14
Northern Carnarvon
Barrow
Re-release areas
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www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au
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