Petroleum Act 1998

This section applies if—

an authority is surrendered or cancelled or expires; or

an area is removed from an authority area as the result of a partial surrender or of action taken by the Minister under section 114(2).

The Minister may direct the person who held the authority immediately before the surrender, cancellation, expiry or removal to do one or more of the following to the satisfaction of the Minister—

to remove, or cause to be removed, from the relevant area all property brought into that area under the authority, or to make other arrangements with respect to that property; and

to plug or close off all wells made in the relevant area under the authority; and

subject to this Act, to provide for the conservation and protection of the natural resources in the relevant area; and

to make good any damage to the surface of the land or the subsoil in the relevant area caused by any person engaged or concerned in the operations conducted under the authority; and

to give to the Minister any information that it was obliged to give to the Minister.

A direction must be given in writing and must specify by when it must be complied with.

A person to whom a direction is given must comply with the direction within the time specified in the direction.

If subsection (1)(b) applies and the Minister gives a direction in relation to the relevant area, it is a condition of the authority that previously applied to that area that the direction be complied with within the time specified in the direction.

Nothing in this section requires the Minister to give a direction to any person.

In this section relevant area means—

if an authority expires or is surrendered or cancelled in its entirety, the area to which the authority applied;

in any other case, the area to which the authority no longer applies.