PETROLEUM AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY RESOURCES ACT 1967 - SECT 144
PETROLEUM AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY RESOURCES ACT 1967 - SECT 144
144 . Royalty not payable in certain cases
(1) Royalty under this
Act —
(a) is
not payable in respect of petroleum or geothermal energy that the Minister is
satisfied was unavoidably lost before the quantity of that petroleum or
geothermal energy was ascertained; and
(b) is
not payable in respect of petroleum that is used by the permittee, lessee,
holder of the drilling reservation, or licensee as approved by the Minister
for the purposes of petroleum exploration operations or operations for the
recovery of petroleum; and
(ba) is
not payable in respect of geothermal energy that is used by the permittee,
lessee, holder of the drilling reservation, or licensee as approved by the
Minister for the purposes of geothermal energy resources exploration
operations or operations for the recovery of geothermal energy; and
(c) is
not payable in respect of —
(i)
petroleum that, with the approval of the Minister, is
flared or vented in connection with operations for the recovery of petroleum;
or
(ii)
geothermal energy that, with the approval of the
Minister, is dissipated in connection with operations for the recovery of
geothermal energy.
(2) Where petroleum
that has been recovered by a permittee, holder of a drilling reservation,
lessee or licensee is, with the approval of the Minister, returned to a
natural reservoir, royalty under this Act is not payable in respect of that
petroleum by reason of the recovery but this subsection does not affect the
liability of that or any other permittee, holder of a drilling reservation,
lessee or licensee to pay royalty in respect of petroleum that is recovered
from that natural reservoir.
(3) Where petroleum
that has been recovered by a permittee, holder of a drilling reservation,
lessee or licensee is, pursuant to an agreement entered into under
section 67(2)(a), injected into a natural underground reservoir for the
purpose of storage and subsequent recovery, royalty under this Act is not
payable in respect of that petroleum by reason of the initial recovery except
as provided under that agreement.
(4) Subject to any
agreement entered into under section 67(2)(a), nothing in subsection (3)
affects the liability of any permittee, holder of a drilling reservation,
lessee or licensee to pay royalty in respect of petroleum that is recovered
from the natural reservoir in which it is stored.
[Section 144 amended: No. 12 of 1990 s. 110; No.
78 of 1990 s. 7; No. 28 of 1994 s. 59; No. 35 of 2007 s. 77.]