Petroleum Act Amendment Act 1949 (WA)

No. 25.] Petroleum. [1949.

PETROLEUM.

13° Geo. VI., No. CXI.

No. 25 of 1949.

AN ACT to amend the Petroleum Aet, 1936-1940.

[Assented to 22nd October, 1949.]

BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty,by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Short title. 1.

This Act may be cited as the Petroleum Act Amendment Act, 1949, and shall be read as one with the Petroleum Act, 1936 (No. 36 of 1936, as amended by No. 8 of 1940), hereinafter referred to as the principal Act.

Citation of

the principal	2.	The principal Act, as amended by this Act, may
Act as

amended by	be cited as the Petroleum Act, 1936-1949.
this Act.
Repeal and

re-enactment 3. The principal Act is amended by repealing section

of s. 55.	fifty-five and substituting the following:-
Governor

may grant	55. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the regulations, the Governor may grant to any person who has complied with the provisions of Divisions 1 and 2 of this Part of this Act a petro- leum lease of land for the purpose of obtaining petrol from the land.
petroleum
lease.
(2) Unless the Governor is satisfied that excep- tional circumstances justify the grant of it, a petro- leum lease shall not be granted to any

(a) person not domiciled; or

(b) company not formed,

within the Commonwealth.

1949.] Petroleum. [No. 25.

(3) A petroleum lease shall not be granted in

respect of any area of land

(a) exceeding one hundred. square miles; or

(b) unless approved by the Minister, of less

than four square miles.

(4) Where a person who holds a license to pros- pect discovers petroleum in the area of land for which the license is granted,

he shall be entitled as of right by force of the pro- visions of this subsection, to select within six months of the discovery or within such further time as the Minister may in his discretion allow, so much of that area as he requires to hold under petroleum lease, and

upon making application in the manner and

paying the fees prescribed,

to a grant of such number of petroleum leases of

I hat land as shall be necessary to comply with that

,ntitlement.

Amendment

4. Section fifty-nine of the principal Act is amended of s. 59.

by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the fol.-

lowing:—

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the

regulations

(a) a petroleum lease shall be for a term of

twenty-one years;

(b) on the expiration of that term the lessee of a petroleum lease shall be entitled to a renewal of the lease for any further period during which petroleum in payable quantities is produced from at least one well on the land if-

(i) at any time during the last six

months of the term referred to

in paragraph (a) of this subsec-

No. 25.] Petroleum. [1949.

tion, he makes application in the prescribed manner to the Minis- ter for the renewal and pays the prescribed fees; and

(ii) he has, during that term, observed the provisions of this Act and the regulations and the lease.

Amendment

of s, 63. 5. Section sixty-three of the principal Act is amended

by

(a) substituting for paragraphs (e) and (f) of sub-

section (1) the following paragraphs :—

(e)	A covenant by the lessee that so long as any petroleum or any product thereof obtained from any land held by him under the petroleum lease, can be consumed in Australia, he shall, if so required by the Minister, ensure that that petroleum and pro- duct thereof shall be disposed of only for consumption in Australia.
(f)	A covenant by the lessee that he shall, if so required by the Minister, refine or cause to be refined in the State or some other part of Australia approved of for that purpose by the Minister, such of the petroleum pro- duced from the land held by him under the petroleum lease as is required for consumption in Aus- tralia.;

(b) adding the following subsection:

(3) For the purposes of this section, the expression "Australia" includes the whole of the Commonwealth of Australia, includ- ing any territory governed by the Common- wealth of Australia under mandate or trus- teeship.