Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Act 2008 (117 of 2008)

Schedule 1   Amendments relating to greenhouse gas storage etc.

Offshore Petroleum Act 2006

108   At the end of section 15

Add:

Potential greenhouse gas storage formation

(2) For the purposes of this Act, if:

(a) a person:

(i) carries out a seismic survey, or any other kind of survey, in an offshore area; or

(ii) takes samples of the seabed or subsoil of an offshore area; and

(b) the person does so with the intention that the person or another could use the survey data, or information derived from the samples, as the case may be, for the purpose of discovering one or more potential greenhouse gas storage formations;

the person is taken to explore for those potential greenhouse gas storage formations.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, if:

(a) a person has reasonable grounds to suspect that a part of a geological formation could be an eligible greenhouse gas storage formation; and

(b) the person carries out an activity for the purposes of ascertaining either or both of the following:

(i) the spatial extent of the eligible greenhouse gas storage formation;

(ii) any of the fundamental suitability determinants of the eligible greenhouse gas storage formation;

the person is taken to explore for a potential greenhouse gas formation.

Potential greenhouse gas injection site

(4) For the purposes of this Act, if:

(a) a person:

(i) carries out a seismic survey, or any other kind of survey, in an offshore area; or

(ii) takes samples of the seabed or subsoil of an offshore area; and

(b) the person does so with the intention that the person or another could use the survey data, or information derived from the samples, as the case may be, for the purpose of discovering one or more potential greenhouse gas injection sites;

the person is taken to explore for those potential greenhouse gas injection sites.