(1) Royalty under this
Act —
(a) is
not payable in respect of petroleum that the Minister is satisfied was
unavoidably lost before the quantity of that petroleum was ascertained; and
(b) is
not payable in respect of petroleum that is used by the permittee, lessee or
licensee, as approved by the Minister, for the purposes of petroleum
exploration operations or operations for the recovery of petroleum; and
(c) is
not payable in respect of petroleum that, with the approval of the Minister,
is flared or vented in connection with operations for the recovery of
petroleum.
(2) Where petroleum
that has been recovered by a permittee, lessee or licensee is, with the
approval of the Minister, returned to a natural reservoir, royalty under this
Act is not payable in respect of that petroleum by reason of that recovery but
this subsection does not affect the liability of that or any other permittee,
lessee or licensee to pay royalty in respect of petroleum that is recovered
from that natural reservoir.
(3) Where petroleum
that has been recovered by a permittee, lessee or licensee is, pursuant to an
agreement under section 67(2)(a) of the
Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Act 1967 , injected into a natural
reservoir for the purpose of storage and subsequent recovery, royalty under
this Act is not payable in respect of that petroleum by reason of the initial
recovery except as provided under that agreement.
[Section 145 amended: No. 12 of 1990 s. 244; No.
28 of 1994 s. 111; No. 35 of 2007 s. 104(3).]