Western Australian Consolidated Acts

PETROLEUM (SUBMERGED LANDS) ACT 1982 - SECT 38B

38B .         Grant or refusal of lease in relation to application

        (1)         If —

            (a)         an application has been made under section 38A; and

            (b)         the applicant has furnished any further information as and when required by the Minister under section 38A(3); and

            (c)         the Minister is satisfied that —

                  (i)         the area comprised in the block, or any one or more of the blocks, specified in the application contains petroleum; and

                  (ii)         the recovery of petroleum from that area is not, at the time of the application, commercially viable but is likely to become commercially viable within the period of 15 years after that time,

                the Minister shall, by written notice served on the applicant, inform the applicant that the Minister is prepared to grant to the applicant a lease in respect of the block or blocks as to which the Minister is satisfied as mentioned in paragraph (c).

        (2)         Where an application has been made under section 38A and —

            (a)         the applicant has not furnished any further information as and when required by the Minister under section 38A(3); or

            (b)         the Minister is not satisfied as to the matters referred to in subsection (1)(c) in relation to the block, or all the blocks, specified in the application,

                the Minister shall, by instrument in writing served on the applicant, refuse to grant a lease to the applicant.

        (3A)         If —

            (a)         an application has been made under section 38A specifying 2 or more blocks; and

            (b)         the Minister is not satisfied as mentioned in subsection (1)(c) in relation to one or more, but not all, of the blocks,

                the Minister shall, by notice in writing served on the applicant, refuse to grant a lease to the applicant in respect of the block or blocks as to which the Minister is not satisfied as mentioned in subsection (1)(c).

        (3)         An instrument under subsection (1) shall contain —

            (a)         a summary of the conditions subject to which the lease is to be granted; and

            (b)         a statement to the effect that the application will lapse if the applicant does not make a request under subsection (4) in respect of the grant of the lease.

        (4)         An applicant on whom there has been served an instrument under subsection (1) may, within a period of one month after the date of service of the instrument, or within such further period, not exceeding one month, as the Minister, on application in writing served on the Minister before the end of the first-mentioned period of one month, allows, by instrument in writing served on the Minister, request the Minister to grant to the applicant the lease.

        (5)         Where an applicant on whom there has been served an instrument under subsection (1) has made a request under subsection (4) within the period applicable under subsection (4), the Minister shall grant to the applicant a retention lease in respect of the block or blocks specified in the instrument.

        (6)         Where an applicant on whom there has been served an instrument under subsection (1) has not made a request under subsection (4) within the period applicable under subsection (4), the application lapses upon the expiration of that period.

        (7)         On the day on which a lease granted under this section in respect of a block or blocks comes into force, the permit in respect of the block or blocks ceases to be in force in respect of those blocks.

        [Section 38B inserted by No. 12 of 1990 s. 174; amended by No. 28 of 1994 s. 87; No. 42 of 2010 s. 92.]