Legislation & Compliance

Onshore geothermal and petroleum exploration and development are administered by the PIRSA Petroleum and Geothermal Group under the Petroleum Act 2000.

The Petroleum Act 2000 was proclaimed on 25 September 2000 to replace the Petroleum Act 1940. The main features of the Petroleum Act 2000 are:

  • establishment of a co-regulatory regime focusing on achievement of environmental, public safety and resource management objectives, and reduced compliance costs (this is strongly supported by both industry and community interest groups)
  • licence allocation and management mechanisms to facilitate competition in line with competition policy principles
  • rights of third party access to licensed pipelines (where not covered by the national access regime), to depleted reservoirs (for gas storage purposes), and to pipeline easements
  • greater security of tenure for licences through improved registration procedures
  • public consultation processes with regard to establishment of environmental objectives and for significant proposed activities (consistent with provisions of the Development Act 1993)
  • reduced risk to government for liabilities arising from the activities of the industry
  • a fee structure designed to encourage the industry to adopt management systems to undertake activities
  • inclusion of an effective and expeditious geothermal regulatory and approvals framework.

Since August 2004, over the counter applications for geothermal exploration licences (GELs) can be accepted over the entire state, except over current GELs or lands excluded for exploration (eg certain parks).

The development of the Petroleum Act 2000 embraced six key principles of certainty, openness, transparency, flexibility, practicality and efficiency. More details about these principles and the main features are given in the summary of the Act. 

The Act has a number of aspects that are considered innovative and without precedent in other Australian legislation and is therefore subject to regular review to ensure that the legislation is achieving its intended objectives.

A Green Paper on Proposed Amendments to the Petroleum Act 2000 outlining proposed amendments to the Act is now open for public scrutiny and comments on a number of issues. It is proposed that the size of a geothermal licence granted is at the Minister’s discretion, based on the proponent’s demonstrated project plan. This proposal will include maximum licence areas of 10 000 km2 for a GEL and 1000 km2 for a Geothermal Retention Licence (GRL) or a Geothermal Production Licence (GPL).

The closing date for comments is 29 June 2007.

You can read the complete copy of the Petroleum Act 2000 (external site) and the Petroleum Regulations 2000 or contact the Petroleum & Geothermal Group to obtain a copy.

 

Environmental Regulation

Part 12 of the Petroleum Act 2000 provides for requirements to protect the environment from potential and adverse impacts related to petroleum activities. This includes the need for licensees to prepare a Statement of Environmental Objectives (SEO), based on an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

More information about environmental requirements and copies of company SEOs and EIRs are included in the Environment and Land Access part of the website.