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This Act may be cited as the Petroleum Act 1936, and shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by Proclamation 1.
2.
This Act shall be read and construed subject to the provisions of section 4 of the Western Australia Constitution Act 1890 (Imperial), so far as the same may be applicable.
This Act is divided into Parts, as follows: —
In this Act, subject to the context —
Aerial survey means the examination of the earth’s surface by an observer in an aeroplane or other apparatus capable of maintaining itself in the air without the aid of solid support, and the delineation of features visible on the earth’s surface, whether by means of photography or any other method.
Casinghead petroleum spirit means any liquid hydrocarbons obtained from natural gas by separation or by any chemical or physical process.
Crown land means all land which has not been dedicated to any public purpose, or reserved, or which has not been granted in fee or lawfully contracted to be so granted, or which is not held under lease for any purpose except pastoral or timber purposes. The term includes commons, State forests, timber reserves, and any reserve declared by the Governor to be Crown land for the purposes of this Act, and all land between high and low-water mark on the sea shore and on the margin of tidal rivers and below low-water mark, and also includes the sea-bed and subsoil of the submarine areas contiguous to the coast of Western Australia and its Dependencies to the extent seawards to which State jurisdiction for the time being extends.
Department means the Department of Mines.
Drilling means the perforation of the earth’s surface crust by mechanical means not involving the descent of workmen into the hole caused by such perforation and whether such hole is vertical, inclined or horizontal. The term also includes all operations for preventing collapse of the sides of the hole made by drilling or for preventing such hole from being filled with extraneous materials including water.
Gas means natural gaseous hydrocarbons, whether associated with oil or not.
Geologist means a person who has received such training in the science of geology as the Minister may require, and who has been approved in writing by the Minister as a fit and proper person to carry out geological surveys under and for the purposes of this Act.
Geological survey includes the examination of areas in the field, the collection of necessary specimens of rocks and other materials, investigations in the laboratory, the preparation of maps and geological sections, and all other operations essential for the determination of the geological structure of any such area.
Geophysical survey means the examination of an area with the aid of accurate instruments of a prescribed type, with the object of determining some or all of the physical constituents of geological formation at or below the surface of the earth in such area.
Minister means the Minister for Mines, or the responsible Minister of the Crown for the time being charged with the administration of the Mining Act 1904.
Natural gas means gas obtained from bore holes and consisting primarily of hydrocarbons.
Payable, as applied to petroleum, means petroleum of such quantity and quality that it can under ordinary circumstances be obtained or produced with profit.
Permit to explore means a permit to explore with a view to the discovery of petroleum.
Petroleum includes all naturally occurring hydrocarbons in a free state, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, and oxidation products thereof, which are contained in the rocks of the earth’s crust and which are capable of extraction therefrom by purely mechanical methods not involving the application of heat or chemical processes.
Petroleum deposit means any accumulation of petroleum at or below the surface of the earth.
Private land means any land which has been or may hereafter be alienated from the Crown for any estate of freehold, or is or may hereafter be the subject of any conditional purchase agreement, or of any lease or concession with or without the right of acquiring the fee simple thereof, other than for pastoral or timber purposes.
Producing well means a bore hole drilled with the object of obtaining petroleum from a petroleum deposit.
Prospect or to prospect means to search for a petroleum deposit.
Reconnaissance survey means a rapid preliminary examination of an area in less detail than is required for a geological survey.
Sand includes any geological formation sufficiently porous to contain or absorb appreciable quantities of free petroleum, water, or gaseous substances.
Scout drilling means the drilling of bore holes for the purpose of procuring scientific information, and not with the immediate object of obtaining payable petroleum.
Test well means a bore hole drilled with the object of determining the presence or absence of petroleum at a particular locality.
Warden means the person for the time being holding office as Under Secretary for Mines for the purposes of the Mining Act 1904, and includes a stipendiary, police, or resident magistrate to whom the warden may at any time temporarily delegate his powers as warden under and for the purposes of this Act.
Water shut-off means all operations necessary for the exclusion of water from any source from any portion of a bore hole drilled in any area which may contain petroleum.
[Section 4 amended: No. 8 of 1940 s. 4; No. 66 of 1954 s. 2.]
Every license to occupy Crown land for the purpose of prospecting for mineral oil issued prior to the commencement of this Act under the provisions of the Mining Act 1904, shall, if still subsisting, continue in operation after the commencement of this Act as a license to prospect under this Act; and the holder thereof shall, by virtue of such license, be entitled to all the privileges and be subject to all the obligations of the holder of a license to prospect issued under this Act for the balance of the term of such first-mentioned license.
Notwithstanding the Land Act 1933, or any other Act, the Governor, by proclamation, may declare that any land of the Crown or part thereof reserved for or dedicated to any public purpose under any Act and howsoever classified that —
is not Crown land within the meaning of that expression in section 4 of this Act; and
is specified in the proclamation,
is Crown land for the purposes of this Act, and is land to which this Act applies, so long as the proclamation remains in force.
Subject to this Act, a proclamation made under subsection (1) of this section —
does not otherwise affect the purpose for which any land specified therein was reserved or dedicated; and
may, at any time by proclamation, be revoked or varied.
[Section 5A inserted: No. 85 of 1966 s. 2.]
It is hereby declared that —
the land of the Crown comprising Barrow Island reserved for a public purpose under the Land Act 1933, as reserve No. 11648 and classified as of Class “A” shall be deemed to be, and to have always been, Crown land for the purposes of this Act;
a permit to explore or license to prospect issued or granted under this Act or purporting to have been so issued or granted before the commencement of this section in respect of the land comprised in the reserve referred to in paragraph (a) of this section, shall be deemed to have been always lawfully issued or granted under this Act and a petroleum lease may be issued under this Act in respect of that land in such form and containing such additional reservations, covenants and conditions in addition to those prescribed by or under this Act as the governor approves;
subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, a permit to explore or license to prospect issued or granted under this Act before the commencement of this section in respect of an area of land that includes any land of the Crown reserved for or dedicated to any public purpose under the Land Act 1933, or any other Act, and classified as of Class “A”, and which is not Crown land within the meaning of that expression in section 4 of this Act —
shall be deemed to have been always lawfully issued or granted under this Act;
shall, subject to this Act, continue to apply to so much of the land in respect of which it is granted that is not so reserved or dedicated and so classified;
shall not apply to the land or any part thereof so reserved or dedicated and so classified, until that land or part is declared pursuant to section 5A of this Act, to be Crown land for the purposes thereof.
[Section 5B inserted: No. 85 of 1966 s. 3.]
This Act shall be administered by the Minister through the department.
For the purposes of this Act the Governor may appoint persons to be called wardens who shall have the powers, duties and authorities conferred on them by this Act.
The warden may, with the approval of the Minister, temporarily delegate his powers as warden to any stipendiary, police, or resident magistrate when the warden by reason of absence, illness, or for any other cause is unable to act.
A stipendiary, police, or resident magistrate to whom the powers of warden are delegated as aforesaid shall, until such delegation is determined by the warden, have and exercise and perform all the powers and duties of the warden under this Act.
[Section 7 amended: No. 66 of 1954 s. 3.]
[8. Repealed: No. 8 of 1940 s. 2.]
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any Act, or in any grant, lease, or other instrument of title, whether made or issued before or after the commencement of this Act, all petroleum on or below the surface of all land within this State, whether alienated in fee simple or not so alienated from the Crown is and shall be deemed always to have been the property of the Crown.
All Crown grants and leases under any Act relating to Crown land issued after the passing of this Act shall contain a reservation of all petroleum on or below the surface of the land comprised therein, and also a reservation of the right of access, subject to and in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained, for the purpose of searching for and for the operations of obtaining petroleum in any part of the land.
The Minister may by his officers, agents, or workmen search for petroleum, and conduct all operations deemed necessary for obtaining, refining, and disposing of petroleum produced in Western Australia; and, for such purposes, may enter upon and occupy, either temporarily or permanently —
any vacant Crown land; or
any land in the grant or subsisting lease of which from the Crown, whether issued before or after the commencement of this Act, petroleum has been reserved, or held under lease, license, or permit for pastoral or timber purposes only, without making any compensation, except for deprivation of the possession of so much of the surface, including any improvements thereon, as is required for the conduct of the said operations and surface rights of way thereto or therefrom; or
any mining tenement within the meaning of the Mining Act 1904, held for the purpose of mining for gold or other mineral, including coal, subject to the payment of compensation for any interference with the operations of the holder thereof.
The Minister may by himself and any person acting with his authority, for the purpose of searching for petroleum, enter upon any other land alienated from the Crown for an estate in fee simple before the passing of this Act, or held under a subsisting lease from the Crown issued before the passing of this Act, and conduct all operations deemed necessary for that purpose, subject to the payment of compensation: Provided that the owner or lessee may require the land to be resumed under and subject to the next following section.
Any claim for payment of compensation under this section shall be made, dealt with, and determined under and in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Act 1902, as if it were a claim for compensation made originally under that Act.
The Governor may from time to time under and subject to the Public Works Act 1902, resume on behalf of the Crown any land which in his opinion ought to be resumed for the purposes of this Act, and for the purpose of any such proposed resumption may cause the land to be inspected, surveyed, explored, and reported upon by such officers and workmen as he directs, all of whom may thereupon enter upon the land and carry out all necessary operations.
Upon any such resumption the owner shall be entitled to compensation, and the amount of such compensation shall be determined in the manner prescribed by the Public Works Act 1902.
Whenever it is proved to the satisfaction of the Compensation Court that damage has been sustained by a claimant by reason of the severance of the land resumed from other adjoining land of the claimant, the court may order that such adjoining land or some portion thereof shall also be resumed.