MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia will impose a levy of A$0.48 per barrel of oil equivalent on all offshore petroleum producers to cover the costs of cleaning up an abandoned oil field in the Timor Sea, Resources Minister Keith Pitt’s office said on Friday.
“The design of the levy ensures the amount paid by each company will vary according to their level of production in barrel of oil equivalent terms,” Pitt’s spokesperson said.
Parliament passed legislation late on Thursday to impose the levy to pay for dismantling facilities and cleaning up the area around the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields, abandoned when the fields’ owner, Northern Oil & Gas Australia, collapsed in 2019.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
