Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 provides the regulatory framework for all offshore petroleum exploration, production and greenhouse gas activities in Commonwealth waters (those areas more than three nautical miles from the Territorial sea baseline and within the Commonwealth Petroleum Jurisdiction Boundary). The Act is supported by regulations and directions covering matters such as safety, diving, petroleum resource management and environmental management.

Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009 have been made under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 with the objective of ensuring any petroleum activity is:

• consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development; and
• in accordance with an environment plan that has appropriate environmental performance objectives and standards as well as measurement criteria for determining whether the objectives and standards are met.

The Environment Regulations are comprised of four parts where:

• Part 1 addresses the objects, definitions and other administrative elements;
• Part 2 addresses the requirements for environment plans;
• Part 3 describes the requirements for notification of reportable and recordable incidents, and storage and accessibility of records; and
• Part 4 covers various miscellaneous regulations, including those addressing discharges of produced formation water, the requirements for operators of activities, and other procedural matters.

A key aspect of the Regulations is that it is an offence for an operator to commence a petroleum activity without an “in force” environment plan. The expression “in force” is taken to mean that the environment plan for the activity has been accepted by NOPSEMA and that acceptance has not been withdrawn.

Other Commonwealth Legislation

There is a range of additional environmental assessment and management legislation in place governing petroleum exploration and development activities. All operators must be aware of and comply with this legislation. It should be noted that legislation administered by NOPSEMA does not replace obligations under other legislative instruments.   

The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places defined in the EPBC Act as matters of national environmental significance (NES). At the early stages of project planning, it is the responsibility of the proponent to verify whether the EPBC Act applies to a given petroleum proposal and, if so, clarify the required administrative processes. The onus is on the proponent to decide whether a proposal needs to be referred for determination under the EPBC Act and early contact with the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities will assist in this regard. 

Some petroleum activities may also require approval under the Environmental Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981, the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 or other Commonwealth legislation. The onus is on the proponent to identify and decide whether a proposal needs to be referred for assessment or approval with the relevant regulatory body.

Commonwealth legislation is available from http://www.comlaw.gov.au.

State and Territory Environmental Legislation

NOPSEMA does not currently have conferral of powers for any State or Northern Territory coastal waters. If a petroleum activity is proposed within State or Northern Territory coastal waters (those areas less than three nautical miles from the Territorial sea baseline) a number of environmental assessment and management legislation, specific to that jurisdiction, may be applicable. The onus is on the proponent to identify and comply with all relevant legislation including State and Territory Law, where applicable.

For further information refer to the relevant jurisdiction’s State Law Publisher or relevant government agency.