The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) is inviting comment from stakeholders on a further draft Bill called the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2022.
This Bill seeks to amend the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Act 1967 (PGERA), Petroleum Pipelines Act 1969 (PPA) and Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1982 (PSLA) to modernise electronic communications and signatures. The amendments specifically allow applicants to submit documents electronically, eliminating the need to submit multiple copies of that application.
DMIRS' Resource and Environmental Compliance Executive Director Karen Caple said the changes align with the department's commitment to improving its digital capability to meet industry needs.
"We recognise the increasing desire for industry to conduct business and transactions electronically, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the department has responded to these requests."
"This Bill will support modern business practices by digitising more of our services and enabling a more streamlined application process."
DMIRS is concurrently progressing a number of petroleum legislation reform initiatives, in addition to this new Amendment Bill, including:
- Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2022 - seeks to introduce a number of urgent petroleum operational-based amendments, as well as introducing the ability to explore for and produce naturally occurring hydrogen.
- Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill (B) 2023 - seeks to amend the Petroleum Acts to enable the storage and transport of greenhouse gas.
