Queensland Consolidated Acts

PETROLEUM ACT 1923 - SECT 48

48 Commencement of drilling

(1) The lessee shall each year expend on the lease in respect of drilling for petroleum or such other work as the Minister may in writing approve a total sum of money calculated at the rate of $1550 per square kilometre for each square kilometre or part thereof contained in the lease.

(2) The total sum is to be reduced by the value at the wellhead, as agreed or determined under section 49 , of all petroleum produced from the lease in the year.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) are complied with in relation to each of the leases that are the subject of a unitisation arrangement if those subsections are complied with in relation to the leases taken as a whole.

(4) The Minister may grant exemption in writing from the requirements of subsection (1) for such period and under such conditions as the Minister may fix.

(5) If a conservation authority appointed under this Act restricts production from the lease then the value at the wellhead mentioned in subsection (2) shall be determined on production that, in the opinion of the conservation authority, reasonably could have been expected from the lease had production not been so restricted.

(6) The lessee shall drill all necessary wells fairly to offset the wells of others on adjoining land on petroleum deposits.