Australian Licensing

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Australian Licensing

• PSLA - Petroleum Submerged Lands Act (1967)
• (over 40 amendments)
• Recent Reviews
• 1998 - (efficiency of Admin/exp/prod)
• 1997-1998 - (transfer of powers to joint
  authorities)
• 1999 -2000 - (national competition policy)
• 2001 - Plain English (including consolidation)

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Australian Licensing

• Exploration Permit
• Production Licence
• Retention Lease

• Term 6years (3 GMWP 3 SWP)
• Renew _at_ 5yrs _at_ 50 Relinquishment
• Failure GMWP/SWP Cancellation.
• In 4th year SWP gt GMWP yr by yr
• Discovery Notification 2 years to get
  Production Licence or Retention Lease
• Automatic Right
• Term - duration of production 5yrs
• Non-commercial discovery,
• but likely in 15 years.
• 5 year Terms renew _at_ 5

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Australian Licensing

• Work Programme Bids Cash Bidding
• Cash Bidding for areas of high interest
• WP for areas of low interest
• Notification of Discovery
• Forthwith (3 days to write - or 100 penalty
  points ?)
• Data Release
• To Designated Authority
• TITLE - Cores/cuttings 1 month, geophysical 1
  year.
• Speculative - 8 years (if agree release of
  derived 2D)
• To Public domain
• Basic data under Exploration permit 1 further
  year
• Basic data under Production Licence 1 further
  year
• Basic data unlicensed acreage - 2 years
• Interpretative - additional 5 years (provided
  notice is served)

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Australian Licensing

• Assignments (Transfers Dealings)
• Transfer - General consent (reserved power), but
  must be registered.
• Dealings - Must be approved by Regulator
  registered
• All new title holders require financial
  technical vetting
• Pre-Emption
• Very little information - but still allowed
• 1999-2000 Legislative Review
• PSLA reviewed against anti-competitive
  legislation
• ACIL Report - 27 Recommendations

5
Australian Licensing
6
Australian Licensing

• References
• ACIL Report
• APPEA Guidelines
• PSLA 1967
• Acreage Release Australia 2001
• Australian Petroleum News
• Further reading
• ACE Best Practice - Maximising Australian
  Participation in Petroleum Exploration
• Web
• appea.com.au
• isr.gov.au