Bills Digest no. 28 2008–09
Offshore Petroleum (Safety Levies) Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage)
Bill 2008
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Financial implications
Main provisions
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Date introduced:
18 June 2008
House:
House of Representatives
Portfolio:
Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism
Commencement:
The day after the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse
Gas Storage) Act 2008 receives Royal Assent
Links: The relevant
links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech
can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The Offshore Petroleum (Safety Levies)
Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008 (the Bill) proposes to amend
the Offshore Petroleum (Safety Levies) Act 2003 (the Act) by extending
the imposition of safety levies under the Act to greenhouse gas facilities
and pipelines.
For a comprehensive background to the proposed greenhouse
gas storage regime, please refer to the Bills Digest on the Offshore
Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008.
Financial implications
The government has stated that:
The operator of a greenhouse gas sequestration title
will face many compliance costs analogous to the operation of offshore
petroleum titles. Lodgement of documents, compilation of plans, requests
for permission and record keeping are expected to be broadly consistent
with that under the OPA. In the absence of detail on regulation and
guidelines, it is impossible to quantify such costs at this stage with
traditional tools such as the OPBR Business Cost Calculator.[1]
Items 3-29 of Schedule
1 of the Bill proposes to change references from the name ‘Offshore
Petroleum Act’ to ‘Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act’.
Currently, the Act imposes the following levies with
respect to petroleum facilities and pipelines in Commonwealth waters,
as well as State and Territory coastal waters:
- safety case levies
- pipeline safety management levies, and
- safety investigation levies.[2]
It is worth noting that the government points out that:
The levies will not become payable in respect of any
greenhouse gas injection and storage infrastructure in State or Northern
Territory coastal waters, even though the amendments made by this Bill
will potentially extend the levies to such facilities.
This is because the States and Northern Territory
are not at present moving to extend the operation of their Offshore
Petroleum Acts to greenhouse gas injection and storage operations. The
required State and Northern Territory legislative underpinning that
is necessary for these levies to apply will therefore not be in place.[3]
Schedule 2 of the Bill simply proposes consequential
amendments regarding the renumbering of provisions in the Act.
Sharon Scully
17 September 2008
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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