Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) The Minister may,
at any time, make available to another Minister of the Crown —
(a) any
information contained in a document to which this section applies that has
been furnished to the Minister; and
(b) any
cores or cuttings from, or samples of, the Earth’s crust in a block, or
samples of petroleum or geothermal energy resources recovered in a block, that
have been furnished to the Minister.
(1a) The Minister may,
at any time after the grant or renewal, or refusal to grant or renew, a
permit, drilling reservation, lease, licence, access authority or special
prospecting authority —
(a) make
publicly known; or
(b) on
request by a person and, if the Minister so requires, on payment of the
prescribed fee, make available to that person,
any information
contained in, or accompanying, the application for the grant or renewal, as
the case may be, but not including —
(c)
information of a kind referred to in subsection (2) or (5a); or
(d)
particulars of —
(i)
the technical qualifications of the applicant and of the
employees of the applicant; or
(ii)
the technical advice available to the applicant; or
(iii)
the financial resources available to the applicant.
(2) The Minister may,
at any time after the relevant day —
(a) make
publicly known; or
(b) on
request by a person and, if the Minister so requires, on payment of the
prescribed fee, make available to that person,
any information
contained in a document to which this section applies that has been furnished
to the Minister under subsection (1), being information that relates to
the seabed or subsoil, or to petroleum or geothermal energy resources, in a
block, but not including any matter contained in a document to which this
section applies that, in the opinion of the Minister, is a conclusion drawn,
in whole or in part, from, or an opinion based, in whole or in part, on, any
such information.
(3) The Minister or
another Minister of the Crown may, at any time after the relevant
day —
(a) make
publicly known any particulars of; or
(b) on
request by a person and, if the Minister or that other Minister so requires,
on payment of the prescribed fee, permit that person to inspect,
any cores or cuttings
from, or samples of, the Earth’s crust in a block, or samples of
petroleum or geothermal energy resources recovered in a block, that have been
furnished to the Minister or have been made available to that other Minister
under subsection (1).
(4) For the purposes
of subsections (2) and (3) —
(a)
where —
(i)
a permit, drilling reservation or lease is in force in
respect of the block; and
(ii)
the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister during the period during which any of the following were in force
in respect of the block —
(A) the permit, drilling reservation or
lease;
(B) in a case where a lease is in force in
respect of the block, the permit or drilling reservation that ceased to be in
force in respect of the block by virtue of section 48B(7) on the day on
which the lease came into force,
the relevant day is
the day on which the period of 2 years that commenced on the day on which
the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to the Minister expires;
and
(b)
where —
(i)
a licence is in force in respect of the block; and
(ii)
the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister during the period during which any of the following were in force
in respect of the block —
(A) the licence;
(B) the permit, drilling reservation or
lease that ceased to be in force in respect of the block by virtue of
section 54(5) on the day on which the licence came into force,
the relevant day is
the day on which the period of 12 months that commenced on the day on
which the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to the Minister
expires; and
(c)
where the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to the Minister
during a period during which a permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence
was in force in respect of the block and —
(i)
the permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence is
surrendered, cancelled or determined as to the block, and a permit or licence
is not granted in exchange in respect of that block under section 37A or
61; or
(ii)
the permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence
expires but is not renewed in respect of the block,
the relevant day is
the day on which the permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence is so
surrendered, cancelled or determined or expires, as the case may be, whether
another permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence is subsequently in
force in respect of the block or not; and
(d)
where —
(i)
the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister during a period during which a permit, drilling reservation,
lease or licence was not in force in respect of the block; and
(ii)
the information in the document or the core, cutting or
sample was collected for the purpose of the sale of information on a
non-exclusive basis,
the relevant day is
the day determined by the Minister, being a day not more than 5 years
after the day on which the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister; and
(e)
where —
(i)
the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister during a period during which a permit, drilling reservation,
lease or licence was not in force in respect of the block; and
(ii)
paragraph (d)(ii) does not apply,
the relevant day is
the day determined by the Minister, being a day not more than 2 years
after the day on which the document, core, cutting or sample was furnished to
the Minister.
(5) Where —
(a) a
document, core, cutting or sample referred to in subsection (1) was
furnished to the Minister —
(i)
during or in respect of a period during which a permit,
drilling reservation, lease or licence was in force in respect of the block;
or
(ii)
during or in respect of a period during which a special
prospecting authority or access authority was in force in respect of the block
but during which a permit, drilling reservation, lease or licence was not in
force in respect of the block;
and
(b) the
permittee, holder of the drilling reservation, lessee, licensee or holder of
the special prospecting authority or access authority or, if the permit,
drilling reservation, lease, licence, special prospecting authority or access
authority has ceased to be in force, the person who was the holder of the
permit, drilling reservation, lease, licence, special prospecting authority or
access authority —
(i)
has made publicly known any information contained in the
document or has consented in writing to any of that information being made
publicly known; or
(ii)
has made publicly known any particulars of that core,
cutting or sample or has consented in writing to any particulars of that core,
cutting or sample being made publicly known or to that core, cutting or sample
being made available for inspection,
the Minister or
another Minister to whom that information, core, cutting or sample has been
made available under subsection (1) may, at any time after that
information has, or those particulars have, been made publicly known or after
that consent has been given —
(c) make
publicly known that information or, on request by any other person and, if the
Minister or that other Minister so requires, on payment of the prescribed fee,
make that information available to that other person; or
(d) make
publicly known those particulars or, on request by any other person and, if
the Minister or that other Minister so requires, on payment of the prescribed
fee, permit that other person to inspect that core, cutting or sample,
as the case may be.
(5a) Subject to
subsection (5f), the Minister may, at any time after the end of the
period of 5 years after a document to which this section applies was
furnished to the Minister —
(a) make
publicly known; or
(b) on
request by a person and, if the Minister so requires, on payment of the
prescribed fee, make available to that person,
any information
contained in the document, being information that relates to petroleum or
geothermal energy resources, in a block, and that, in the opinion of the
Minister, is a conclusion drawn, in whole or in part, from, or an opinion
based, in whole or in part, on, any information contained in a document to
which this section applies that has been furnished to the Minister under
subsection (1).
(5b) Before the
Minister makes available or publicly known any information pursuant to
subsection (5a), the Minister shall —
(a)
cause to be published in the Gazette a notice —
(i)
stating that the Minister proposes to make the
information available or publicly known; and
(ii)
inviting interested persons to give to the Minister, by
such day as is specified in the notice, being a day not earlier than
45 days after the publication of the notice, a notice objecting to the
whole or any part of the information being made available or publicly known;
and
(iii)
stating that, if a person does not make an objection in
accordance with the invitation, the person will be taken to have consented to
the information being made available or publicly known;
and
(b) if
it is practicable to do so, cause a copy of the notice so published in the
Gazette to be served on the person who furnished the document containing the
information.
(5c) There shall be
set out in the notice of objection the reasons for making the objection.
(5d) A person is not
entitled to make an objection to information being made available or publicly
known except on the grounds that to do so would disclose —
(a) a
trade secret; or
(b) any
other information the disclosure of which would, or could reasonably be
expected to, adversely affect the person in respect of the lawful business,
commercial or financial affairs of the person.
(5e) Where a person
makes an objection to the Minister in accordance with such an invitation, the
Minister shall, within 45 days after the receipt of the notice of
objection, consider the objection, and may either disallow it, or allow it in
whole or in part, and shall cause to be served on the person written notice of
the decision on the objection.
(5f) The Minister
shall not make available or make publicly known any information pursuant to
subsection (5a) if there is in force an objection made in relation to the
information being made available or publicly known but, where such an
objection is in force, nothing in this section shall be taken to preclude a
further invitation under subsection (5b) being made in relation to the
information.
(6) Except as provided
by the preceding provisions of this section or for the purposes of the
administration of this Act, the Minister or another Minister to whom any
information, core, cutting or sample has been made available under
subsection (1) shall not —
(a) make
publicly known, or make available to any person (not being a Minister of the
Crown), any information contained in a document to which this section applies;
or
(b) make
publicly known any particulars of, or permit any person (not being a Minister
of the Crown) to inspect, any core, cutting or sample so referred to.
(6a) This section
applies to the following documents —
(a) an
application made to the Minister under this Act or a document accompanying
such an application;
(b) a
report, return or other document relating to a block that has been furnished
to the Minister under this Act.
(7) In this section, a
reference to a core, cutting or sample includes a reference to a portion of a
core, cutting or sample.
(8) For the purposes
of this section —
(a)
cores and cuttings, and well data, logs, sample descriptions and other
documents, relating to the drilling of a well, shall be deemed to have been
furnished to the Minister not later than one month after the drilling of the
well was, in the opinion of the Minister, substantially completed; and
(b)
geophysical or geochemical data relating to geophysical or geochemical surveys
shall be deemed to have been furnished to the Minister not later than one year
after the geophysical or geochemical field work was, in the opinion of the
Minister, substantially completed.
(9)
Subsections (2) and (5a) apply to information contained in a document to
which this section applies that was furnished to the Minister before or after
the commencement of section 90 of the Acts Amendment (Petroleum)
Act 1990 1 .
(10)
Subsection (3) applies to cores, cuttings and samples furnished to the
Minister before or after the commencement of section 90 of the Acts
Amendment (Petroleum) Act 1990 1 .
[Section 112 amended by No. 69 of 1981
s. 34; No. 12 of 1990 s. 90; No. 78 of 1990 s. 7;
No. 28 of 1994 s. 48; No. 13 of 2005 s. 16(2); No. 35 of
2007 s. 69.]