Part 9ASpecial facilities

Part 9A—Special facilities 59B—Special facilities licence (1) A special facilities licence— (a) authorises the licensee to establish and operate within an area specified in the licence (that must not exceed 5 km²) facilities for the purposes involving or associated with— (i) searching for any regulated substance; or (ii) processing any regulated substance; or (iii) producing or generating energy from a source of geothermal energy; or (iv) other activities that may be relevant or incidental to searching for any regulated substance or processing, producing or storing any regulated substance or a product derived from a regulated substance; and (b) for that purpose, confers rights of access to and use of land to which the licence relates on terms and conditions specified in the licence. (2) For example, a special facilities licence might be granted authorising the holder of the licence to establish and operate facilities within the licence area such as— (a) a processing plant; (b) an electricity generation facility that uses geothermal energy (but not an electricity transmission facility); (ba) a direct air capture and storage facility for the purposes of capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in a natural reservoir; (c) other forms of infrastructure. (3) For the purposes of this Part— (a) the holder of a special facilities licence does not need to be the holder of any other licence under this Act associated with the production or utilisation of a regulated resource; and (b) the area of a special facilities licence does not need to be in the vicinity of the area of any other licence under this Act. 59D—Term of special facilities licence (1) A special facilities licence will be granted for a term determined by the Minister. (2) The Minister may— (a) renew a special facilities licence from time to time for a term determined by the Minister and notified to the licensee; (b) cancel a special facilities licence if the Minister considers that the licence is no longer being used for the purposes for which the licence was granted. 59E—Relationship with other licences (1) A special facilities licence may be granted in respect of an area comprised within the area of another licence. (2) The rights conferred by a special facilities licence prevail over rights conferred by another licence in respect of the same area to the extent (if any) determined by the Minister to be reasonable and appropriate and specified in the special facilities licence. (3) Before the Minister grants a special facilities licence for an area covered by another licence— (a) the Minister must have regard to— (i) the reasons put forward by the applicant for the grant of the licence and, in particular, whether they justify the grant of the licence in derogation from the rights of the existing licensee; and (ii) the legitimate business interests of the holder of the existing licence; and (iii) the effect of the operations to be carried out under the special facilities licence on the operations carried out under the existing licence; and (iv) the operational and technical requirements for the safe, efficient and reliable conduct of operations under both licences; and (v) any other matters the Minister considers relevant; and (b) the Minister must consult with the existing licensee about the matters referred to in paragraph (a) and about the conditions to be included in the licence (unless the existing licensee is the person applying for the special facilities licence). (4) If a special facilities licence is granted over the area of another licence, the holder of the other licence is to be entitled to compensation for diminution of the rights conferred by that licence— (a) to be agreed between the licensees; or (b) in default of agreement, to be determined by the relevant court. (5) If a special facilities licence is granted over the area of another licence, the Supreme Court may, on application by the holder of the other licence made within 2 months after the grant of the special facilities licence, review the terms and conditions of the special facilities licence and vary them as the Court considers just. (6) The Supreme Court may, in exercising its powers under subsection (5), relocate the area of the special facilities licence or vary the area in some other way.