Who must comply with Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act compliance?

Offshore petroleum + gas operators regulated by NOPSEMA.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (OPGGS Act) and its regulations govern offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas activities in Commonwealth waters. NOPSEMA regulates occupational health and safety, well integrity and environmental management. The regime is permission-based: a facility cannot be constructed, installed, operated, modified or decommissioned without a safety case in force for that stage, submitted by a registered operator and accepted by NOPSEMA under the OPGGS (Safety) Regulations 2024. Titleholders need an accepted environment plan before an activity starts. Accidents, dangerous occurrences, well integrity incidents and environmental incidents must be notified to NOPSEMA within fixed times. Safety cases must be revised on NOPSEMA's request, after five years or when circumstances change.

Applies only if you hold an interest in a petroleum project. Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.

How the regulator frames it: Registered operators of offshore facilities and holders of petroleum or greenhouse gas titles in Commonwealth waters (and in Victorian designated coastal waters for incident reporting). Facilities in other state or Northern Territory designated coastal waters report to the relevant state or NT agency.

What triggers it: Constructing, installing, operating, modifying or decommissioning an offshore facility, drilling or managing a well, or carrying out any petroleum or greenhouse gas activity under a title.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (1 of 35: only if a further fact applies; 34 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in mining & resources: for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Size does not change the answer in mining & resources: at every size band the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire.
• Pty Ltd company in mining & resources with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: check whether it applies. applies only if you hold an interest in a petroleum project.

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has industry: Mining & resources. It then applies only if you hold an interest in a petroleum project. That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

Before each stage: safety case accepted (NOPSEMA has 90 days to decide a new safety case and 30 days for a revision) and environment plan accepted. Notify NOPSEMA at least 10 days before an activity starts and within 10 days after it ends. Reportable incidents: oral notice as soon as practicable (within 2 hours for a reportable environmental incident) and a written report within 3 days. Recordable environmental incidents: monthly report within 15 days after month end.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Operator registration and agreed scope of validation; accepted safety case and its five-yearly revisions; accepted environment plan; incident notifications and written reports; monthly death and injury summaries and recordable-incident reports (including nil reports); activity start and completion notices.

Status

Current

Priority

Critical

Maximum penalty: Contraventions are offences and civil penalty matters under the OPGGS Act. NOPSEMA can issue improvement, prohibition and do-not-disturb notices, give directions, withdraw acceptance of a safety case or environment plan, issue infringement notices, seek injunctions and adverse publicity orders, and bring civil or criminal proceedings.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

If this obligation applies to you, so does this one: the engine uses the same rule for each.

• Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT)

Rules Mate tracks 1 published obligation tagged "petroleum", 1 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated critical priority and carries criminal liability, and is an ongoing duty.

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Payday Super readiness
• Right to Disconnect policy
• WGEA readiness