The government will adjust the Petroleum and Gas Safety and Health Fee paid by operators to better reflect the range and level of compliance checks required for various industry activities, Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said.
“The petroleum and gas industry operates in a potentially high-risk environment with oversight provided by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines Petroleum and Gas inspectorate,” he said.
“Government petroleum and gas inspectors perform audits, inspections and investigations of the activities of the petroleum and gas industry.
“They monitor gas exploration and production, pipelines, automotive LPG, gas users and licensing for the installation and servicing of domestic, commercial and industrial gas devices.
“The restructure of the current fee system will streamline the charges for the supervision and intervention by inspectors in the areas of exploration, production and distribution and will deliver real savings to companies as the Newman Government works to reduce red tape and compliance costs.”
Cripps said the Queensland Government had consulted widely with the industry about amendments to the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Regulation 2004.
Key changes include the replacement of the requirement for industry to report quarterly with a new annual reporting requirement and a capping mechanism for upstream operators to ensure revenue collected from some fee categories is not in excess of the calculated costs to conduct compliance activities.
The Category 10 fee will be amended to three tiers and applied based on the size of the LPG delivery network.
Small and medium-sized operators will have a flat fee relative to their size and larger operators will remain at a fee per unit basis with a maximum charge retained.
The Category 9 fee for the LPG delivery network will be abolished and the fee for biogas users will be removed.
“These changes will make it easier for both business and the inspectorate to administer the fee system,” Cripps said.
“It will also deliver a simplified and streamlined fee system for Queensland’s fast-growing petroleum and gas industries.”
