Unit development
69 Unit development
(1) If, except in relation to Aboriginal land, the Minister is satisfied that a petroleum pool extends beyond a licence area and it is desirable, for the purpose of securing economy and efficiency and of avoiding wasteful and harmful development and practices, that the petroleum pool should be worked as one unit, the Minister may:
(a) vary the area of the licence by including in it any block, not comprising land to which paragraph (b) applies, to which the petroleum pool extends; or
(b) where the petroleum pool extends into an adjacent exploration permit or licence area held by another person, require the licensee and each permittee and licensee of the adjacent areas, by notice served on each of them, to prepare and furnish to him a scheme for registration under section 96 for the working and development of the petroleum pool as one unit.
(1A) The Minister may only vary the area of a licence under subsection (1)(a) on the application of the licensee.
(2) Additional land included in a licence under subsection (1) shall be:
(a) compact and limited by well-marked permanent physical boundaries; or
substantially in the form of a rectangle.
(3) A notice under subsection (1)(b) shall specify the land in relation to which, and the time within which, the Minister requires the scheme to be furnished.
(4) Where a scheme is not furnished within the time specified in a notice under subsection (1), or where the Minister does not approve the scheme furnished to him, the Minister shall prepare a scheme and supply particulars of it to each permittee and licensee to whom notice was served under subsection (1).
(5) A permittee and licensee to whom the Minister has supplied particulars of a scheme under subsection (4) shall perform and observe all the conditions of that scheme.
(6) A licensee may enter into an agreement in writing for and in relation to the development of a petroleum pool as a unit but such an agreement does not have any force until it is registered under section 96.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), an agreement includes a variation of a scheme prepared under subsection (1) or (4).
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