EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO. 126
EXCISE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued by the authority of the Minister of State for Industry and Commerce.
The Excise Regulations (Amendment) insert a new circumstance in regulation 50 of the Excise Regulations to allow payment of rebate in respect of stabilized crude petroleum oil on which Excise duty has been paid and exported during the 1985-84 financial year.
The Government announced last August, in the context of the 1983/84 budget, its decision to permit the export, for spot sale in 1983-84, of “new” oil produced from the Fortescue reservior in excess of 18 million barrels together with Bass Strait “old” oil surplus to domestic refiners’ requirements above 385 000 barrels a day.
As the returns to producers from their exports of crude oil have been lower than domestic prices on which excise duty is paid, the Government has decided to pay rebates on exports of excisable “old” crude oil. The prescribed amounts of rebate are determined on the basis of 87% of the difference between the ruling Bass Strait import parity price and the effective realised price achieved by each producer/exporter.
The new regulations will have the effect of allowing payment of a proportion of the amount of rebate that each producer/exporter is expected to receive. The precise figures will not be known until information on production and exports in the 1983 financial year is available. It is proposed that a further amending regulation to effect an adjustment will be made when the final figures are known.
As each producer/exporter has exported a different amount of crude oil and received different prices on these exports, they will need to be paid different amounts of rebate. The prescription of two rates of rebate will allow such payments to be effected. It is expected that the rebates for the 1983 financial year will amount to approximately $11 million.
Payment of the rebates in the 1983 financial year was requested by the Minister for Resources and Energy.