Act · 2022 Revised Edition
Petroleum Mining Act
Exploring, prospecting and mining for petroleumOfficial textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
s 1Citation
This Act may be cited as the Petroleum Mining Act.
s 2Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
(deleted by S 42/2019);
“Authority” means the Petroleum Authority of Brunei Darussalam established by section 3 of the Petroleum Authority of Brunei
Darussalam Act (Chapter 231);
“designated area” has the meaning provided in the Petroleum
Authority of Brunei Darussalam Act (Chapter 231);
“mineral rights” means the exclusive authority to explore, prospect and mine for petroleum within any State Land;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for petroleum mining matters;
“Offshore State Land” means State Land within the area of the
Continental Shelf;
“Onshore State Land” means State Land other than within the area of the Continental Shelf including the foreshores and submarine areas beneath the territorial waters of Brunei Darussalam;
“person” means and includes any individual or group of individuals and any company, corporation or other body;
“petroleum” means any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas or casinghead petroleum spirit existing in its natural condition in strata but does not include coal or bituminous shales or
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other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation;
“petroleum mining Agreement” means an agreement with regard to exploration, prospecting and mining for petroleum or any of them that the State Party enters into under this Act. For the avoidance of doubt, petroleum mining Agreements shall include, without limitation, any licences, leases, concessions, production sharing agreements and service agreements with regard to exploration, prospecting and mining for petroleum or any of them entered into by the State Party in accordance with this Act;
“State Land” means land within Brunei Darussalam and includes the foreshores and submarine areas beneath the territorial waters of
Brunei Darussalam and also the area of the Continental Shelf being the seabed and its subsoil which lies beneath the high seas contiguous to the territorial waters of Brunei Darussalam;
“State Party” means —
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan in Council;
the Government or any of its lawful authorities (including, without limitation, the Secretary to the Council of Ministers or a
Minister) designated by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang
Di-Pertuan to act on behalf of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang
Di-Pertuan in Council; or
Petroleum Authority of Brunei Darussalam or any of the
Authority’s representatives acting on the Authority’s behalf.
s 2AOwnership of petroleum
The entire ownership of any petroleum extracted from any
State Land shall vest in the holder of mineral rights unless otherwise expressly provided in any petroleum mining Agreement.
s 2BMineral rights
Mineral rights shall not be granted or otherwise transferred or assigned, unless expressly provided in any other written law or in any petroleum mining Agreement.
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Save as provided in subsection (2), any person found to be exploring, prospecting and mining or any of them for petroleum upon any
State Land or doing any act with a view to such exploring, prospecting and mining or any of them upon any State Land and without having received lawful authority to do so under any of the provisions of this Act, in other written law or in breach of any of the conditions thereof, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine, imprisonment for 5 years or both, and all machinery, tools, plant, buildings or other property together with any minerals or other products which may be found upon or proved to have been obtained from the State Land so unlawfully explored, prospected or mined shall be liable to forfeiture, and if the offence is a continuing one to a further fine not exceeding $100,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence has continued.
In determining any fine to be imposed under subsection (1), the court shall take into consideration any loss, injury or damage, or whatsoever nature, caused to or sustained by the Government, the public generally or any section of the public, or any person, whether or not such loss, injury or damage is of a nature to admit of being quantified or fully expressed in terms of money.
Nothing in this Act shall invalidate any exploration licence, prospecting licence or mining lease issued by the lawful authority of the
Government of Brunei Darussalam before the passing of this Act including any amendments made thereto from time to time, or abrogate any of the rights or privileges expressly conferred thereby:
Provided that every such right or privilege shall be limited to the extent prescribed by such licence, lease or Agreement; and that the same shall not be extended upon expiry, unless provided otherwise in written laws.
s 4Invitation to bid
The State Party may invite persons to bid for a petroleum mining
Agreement in respect of any Onshore State Land or Offshore State Land for the purposes of exploration, prospecting for and the mining of petroleum or any of them, and any person so bidding shall conform to such terms and
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conditions as are imposed by the State Party in the invitation to bid. Any person so bidding is referred to in the Act as the applicant.
s 5Information confidential
All information comprised in, or furnished to the State Party in pursuance of, a bid made under section 4 shall be treated by the State Party as confidential.
s 6
(No section).
s 7Lapse of application
If a petroleum mining Agreement is not executed within 6 months after approval of the application by State Party or the period agreed between
State Party and the applicant the right of the applicant to such petroleum mining Agreement is deemed to have lapsed, unless State Party considers that the delay is not attributable to the fault of the applicant.
State Party may —
enter into a petroleum mining Agreement in respect of any area of State Land for which application has been made as herein provided;
at the request of the licensee or lessee, enter into one or more petroleum mining Agreements in substitution for and in respect of the same area or areas as are covered by any one or more exploration licence, prospecting licence or mining lease which was valid and subsisting (or which may be accepted by State Party as if it had been valid and subsisting) on 18th November 1963.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan in Council may by regulations prescribe the terms and conditions of a petroleum mining
Agreement which shall, unless His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan in Council thinks fit to modify or exclude them in any particular case, be incorporated in any petroleum mining Agreement:
Provided that until any such terms and conditions have been so prescribed, a petroleum mining
Agreement made on or after
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CAP. 44 31st October 1992, shall contain such terms and conditions as may be agreed between State Party and the applicant.
A person with whom a petroleum mining Agreement and any collateral agreement or agreements is made shall be entitled to all the rights thereby expressed to be granted.
s 9
(No section).
s 10Grant of more than one Agreement
Nothing in this Act shall prevent more than one petroleum mining
Agreement being made with the same person.
s 11Execution
The Secretary to the Council of Ministers or the Minister designated by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan shall have power to execute for and on behalf of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan in Council any petroleum mining Agreement and any collateral Agreement or
Agreements which His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan shall direct to be executed:
Provided that any petroleum mining Agreement and any collateral agreement or agreements in respect of any designated area under the
Petroleum Authority of Brunei Darussalam, shall be executed for and on behalf of the Authority by a duly authorised representative of the Authority.
s 12Notification
The State Party shall, as soon as may be after the execution, surrender, determination, or assignment of any petroleum mining Agreement or the right thereunder under this Act, issue a public notification of the fact stating the name of the person with whom the petroleum mining Agreement was made, the name of any assignee and the situation of the area concerned.
s 12ALiability of directors etc.
Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence against this Act, every director and other person concerned in the management of the body corporate shall be guilty of the like offence unless he proves that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all
Petroleum Mining 10 CAP.
such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.
s 13Rules
The Minister may, with the approval of His Majesty the Sultan and
Yang Di-Pertuan, make rules generally for carrying out the provision of this
Act, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, to provide for —
the appointment, duties, privileges and powers of persons to enforce the provisions of this Act or any petroleum mining
Agreement made thereunder;
the prescribing of fees to be paid in respect of anything to be done in accordance with the provisions of this Act or any petroleum mining Agreement made hereunder.
s 14
(Repealed by S 42/2019).