Mineral Resources Act 1989

Petroleum development preference, in whole or part, must not be given unless this section has been complied with.

Petroleum development preference may be given only if the Minister is satisfied of each of the following—

on the basis of the submissions and the results of consultation lodged under sections 318AT and 318AX, it is either not commercially or technically feasible or it is unlikely that the applicant and the authority holder are able to make a future coordination arrangement about—

coal or oil shale mining and any incidental coal seam gas mining under the proposed mining lease; and

petroleum production under any future petroleum lease for the land;

that, having regard to the public interest, the public interest in the following would be best served by not granting a mining lease to the mining lease applicant first—

coal or oil shale mining and any incidental coal seam gas mining;

petroleum production;

if the petroleum is a brownfield petroleum resource—

it is critical to the continuance of existing petroleum production or processing or the efficient use of infrastructure related to the production or processing; and

the applicant’s proposed development plan is incompatible with the future development of the resource;

if the petroleum is a greenfield petroleum resource—

it is commercially viable; and

petroleum production will, if a petroleum lease is granted to the authority to prospect holder, start within 2 years after the grant of the lease.

In this section—