37Exploration expenditure

#### 37 Exploration expenditure (1) For the purposes of this Act, a reference to exploration expenditure incurred by a person in relation to a petroleum project is a reference to payments (not being excluded expenditure), whether of a capital or revenue nature, to the extent that they are made by the person: (a) in carrying on or providing operations and facilities involved in or in connection with exploration for petroleum in the eligible exploration or recovery area in relation to the project; and (b) in carrying on or providing such of the following as are or have been carried on or provided: (i) operations and facilities involved in the recovery of any petroleum from the eligible exploration or recovery area (other than any production licence area) in relation to the project; (ii) operations and facilities involved in moving any petroleum so recovered to or between any storage or processing facilities prior to the production of any marketable petroleum commodity from the petroleum; (iii) operations and facilities involved in the storage, processing or treating of any petroleum so recovered to produce any marketable petroleum commodity from the petroleum; (iv) operations and facilities involved in the moving or storage of any such marketable petroleum commodity before it becomes an excluded commodity; (v) services, or facilities for the provision of services, in connection with the operations, facilities, amenities and services referred to in this section; (vi) employee amenities in connection with the operations, facilities and services referred to in this section; (vii) operations and facilities, carried on or provided, for an environmental purpose, in relation to the carrying on or provision of the operations, facilities and services referred to in this section; and (c) in procuring another person to stabilise, transport, store, recover or process petroleum recovered from the eligible exploration or recovery area (other than any production licence area) in relation to the project, if that stabilisation, transportation, storage, recovery or processing constitutes: (i) the processing of internal petroleum in relation to the project; or (ii) the processing of external petroleum in relation to another petroleum project; and includes any exploration permit, retention lease or other fee (not being an excluded fee) paid by the person, to the extent that the payment relates to the carrying on or providing of any operations, facilities or other things referred to in this section. (2) Where, by reason of the application of subsection 5(3), exploration for petroleum during a period is taken to occur in a retention lease area or areas in relation to a retention lease or leases related to an exploration permit, any liability incurred during that period to pay an exploration permit fee shall, for the purposes of subsection (1), be taken to relate proportionally to the carrying on of operations involved in exploration for petroleum in the retention lease area or areas and in the remainder of the exploration permit area in relation to the exploration permit, according to the respective sizes of those areas. (3) For the purposes of this section, a person is taken to make a payment when the person becomes liable to make the payment. (4) Subject to subsection (5), for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), exploration for petroleum means: (a) discovering petroleum; or (b) identifying the extent of discovered petroleum; or (c) identifying the nature of discovered petroleum. (5) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), exploration for petroleum does not include determining: (a) any of the following in relation to the recovery of petroleum: (i) commercial viability; (ii) economic feasibility; (iii) technical feasibility; or (b) how to recover any petroleum; (6) Paragraphs (5)(a) and (b) do not limit each other.