Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006

This section applies if:

the responsible Commonwealth Minister publishes a notice under subsection 296(1) inviting applications for the grant of a greenhouse gas assessment permit; and

at the end of the period specified in the notice, 2 or more applications have been made under section 296 for the grant of a greenhouse gas assessment permit over the same block or blocks.

The responsible Commonwealth Minister may give an offer document under section 298 to whichever applicant, in the responsible Commonwealth Minister’s opinion, is most deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit.

In determining which of the applicants is most deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit, the responsible Commonwealth Minister must have regard to criteria made publicly available by the responsible Commonwealth Minister.

Criteria under subsection (3) must consist of, or include, criteria relating to proposals for work and expenditure in relation to the block or blocks concerned.

Criteria under subsection (3) may include criteria relating to any or all of the following matters:

economic matters;

commercial matters;

public interest matters.

Subsection (5) does not limit subsection (3).

For the purposes of this section, the responsible Commonwealth Minister may rank the applicants in the order in which, in the responsible Commonwealth Minister’s opinion, they are deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit, with the most deserving applicant being ranked highest.

The responsible Commonwealth Minister may exclude from the ranking any applicant who, in the responsible Commonwealth Minister’s opinion, is not deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit.

If the responsible Commonwealth Minister:

has considered the information accompanying the applications; and

is of the opinion that 2 or more of the applicants are equally deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit;

details (the work/expenditure details) of their proposals for additional work and expenditure in relation to the block or blocks concerned; and

any other information that is relevant in determining which of the applicants is most deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit.

A notice under subsection (9) must:

specify the kinds of work/expenditure details that the responsible Commonwealth Minister considers to be relevant in determining which of the applicants is most deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit; and

specify the kinds of other information that the responsible Commonwealth Minister considers to be relevant in determining which of the applicants is most deserving of the grant of the greenhouse gas assessment permit; and

specify the period within which the work/expenditure details and the other information must be given to the responsible Commonwealth Minister.

If an applicant gives work/expenditure details or other information to the responsible Commonwealth Minister, and those details are or that information is:

of a kind specified in the notice; and

given within the period specified in the notice;

An instrument setting out criteria under subsection (3) is not a legislative instrument.

See also section 302, which deals with the effect of the withdrawal or lapse of an application.