❓ Minister describes a historic agreement regarding the Browse LNG project, specifically the apportionment of the Torosa gas field royalties between WA and the Commonwealth, resulting in WA receiving 65.4%.
AnsweredQoN 755Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BROWSE LNG
PROJECT — TOROSA GAS FIELD
755. Mr J. NORBERGER to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Can the minister please describe to
the house the historic agreement for the Browse project signed by state government
over the winter recess?
PROJECT — TOROSA GAS FIELD
755. Mr J. NORBERGER to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Can the minister please describe to
the house the historic agreement for the Browse project signed by state government
over the winter recess?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Indeed, on 22 July a very historic agreement was signed between the state
government, the commonwealth government and the Browse joint venture partners.
Members will recall that last year I advised the house that the National
Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator had notified Western Australia that
because of the discovery of some islands on Scott Reef, there was more land in
the WA jurisdiction than in the commonwealth jurisdiction in that area. The implication
of that is that more of the Torosa gas field is in Western Australian
territorial waters. There are two main implications of this notification. The
first is the tenure of the gas titles. The commonwealth and Western Australian
titles were no longer valid, which required us to pass the Petroleum Titles
(Browse Basin) Act 2014 to make sure sovereign risk was not invoked on those
titles. That was one implication, but the second and most significant
implication for Western Australia was that the greater apportionment of the
Torosa gas field in Western Australian waters meant that we would get more of
the royalties from that field and at that time I announced that they were
likely to be greater than 50 per cent. I am very pleased to announce that
following a lot of work done by Geological
Survey of Western Australia and
Geoscience Australia, that apportionment has been determined and was confirmed
in a historic document, which is the first time the state and commonwealth
governments have enacted legislation for such an agreement. I am pleased to
advise the house that the final apportionment is 65.4 per cent to Western Australia
and 34.6 per cent to the commonwealth. That was a historic day because it had
never been done before.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn.
Mr W.R. MARMION : I appreciate all the work done by everyone
involved in coming up with those figures; it was quite a complex task. Now we
look forward to the next phase of the project with the joint venture partners
going towards a final investment decision, which hopefully will be positive.
Hopefully that will be announced sometime next year.
Indeed, on 22 July a very historic agreement was signed between the state
government, the commonwealth government and the Browse joint venture partners.
Members will recall that last year I advised the house that the National
Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator had notified Western Australia that
because of the discovery of some islands on Scott Reef, there was more land in
the WA jurisdiction than in the commonwealth jurisdiction in that area. The implication
of that is that more of the Torosa gas field is in Western Australian
territorial waters. There are two main implications of this notification. The
first is the tenure of the gas titles. The commonwealth and Western Australian
titles were no longer valid, which required us to pass the Petroleum Titles
(Browse Basin) Act 2014 to make sure sovereign risk was not invoked on those
titles. That was one implication, but the second and most significant
implication for Western Australia was that the greater apportionment of the
Torosa gas field in Western Australian waters meant that we would get more of
the royalties from that field and at that time I announced that they were
likely to be greater than 50 per cent. I am very pleased to announce that
following a lot of work done by Geological
Survey of Western Australia and
Geoscience Australia, that apportionment has been determined and was confirmed
in a historic document, which is the first time the state and commonwealth
governments have enacted legislation for such an agreement. I am pleased to
advise the house that the final apportionment is 65.4 per cent to Western Australia
and 34.6 per cent to the commonwealth. That was a historic day because it had
never been done before.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn.
Mr W.R. MARMION : I appreciate all the work done by everyone
involved in coming up with those figures; it was quite a complex task. Now we
look forward to the next phase of the project with the joint venture partners
going towards a final investment decision, which hopefully will be positive.
Hopefully that will be announced sometime next year.
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