ACT No. XIV of 2015 AN ACT to amend the Petroleum (Production) Act, Cap. 156.

I assent.

M ARIE L OUISE

(L.S.)

C OLEIRO P RECA

President

26th May, 2015

ACT No. XIV of 2015

AN ACT to amend the Petroleum (Production) Act, Cap. 156.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:-

The short title of this Act is the Petroleum (Production) Short title.

(Amendment) Act, 2015 and this Act shall be read and construed as Cap. 156.

one with the Petroleum (Production) Act, hereinafter referred to as

"the principal Act".

Article 3 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

Amendment of

article 3 of the

principal Act.

(a)

in sub-article (1) thereof, for the words "and boring

for and getting such petroleum", there shall be substituted the

words "or drilling or boring for or extracting such petroleum";

and

(b) sub-article (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"(2) Any person who, without or in breach

of any of the conditions of a licence granted

under this Act, searches or drills or bores for or

extracts petroleum on, under or from Malta shall

be guilty, by reason merely of having done so

and without prejudice to prosecution under any

other provision of law, of an offence and shall be

liable, on conviction to a fine (multa) of not less

than ten thousand euro (€10,000) and not

exceeding two million euro (€2,000,000) or

imprisonment which shall not exceed a term of

five years, or to both such fine and

imprisonment

Provided that where the act constituting the

offence subsists for more than one day, the

Court may in addition impose a fine (multa) not

exceeding ten thousand euro (€10,000) for each

day during which such act subsists which fine

(multa) shall also be applicable for the purposes

of article 377(3) of the Criminal Code

Provided further that all petroleum so

extracted shall be forfeited to the Government of

Malta and that nothing in this Act, howsoever

referred to, shall be construed as imposing any

penalty on any person where in the course of

lawful boring in search of water or of other

lawful operations, petroleum is set free.".

Article 5 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a)

the present article shall be renumbered as sub-article

(1) thereof;

(b) in the Maltese version of sub-article (1) thereof, as

renumbered, for the word "tfittix" there shall be substituted the

word "tiftix";

(c)

in sub-article (1) thereof, as renumbered,

immediately after the words "petroleum resources of Malta,"

there shall be added the words "regulations which reduce as far

as possible the occurrence of major accidents relating to

offshore oil and gas operations and to limit their consequences

during such exploration, prospecting and mining,";

(d)

immediately after paragraph (e) of sub-article (1)

thereof, as renumbered, for the words from "and may provide for

establishing" to the words "for the purposes of article 377(3) of

the Criminal Code.", there shall be substituted the following

"and may provide for the minimum and maximum

punishments, whether by way of fine (multa) or of

imprisonment, to be applied in respect of any non-

observance of any regulation made under this

article

Provided that any punishment prescribed in

the regulations made under this article shall not be

less than a fine (multa) of ten thousand euro

(€10,000) and shall not exceed a fine (multa) of

two million euro (€2,000,000), or imprisonment

which shall not exceed a term of five years, or both

such fine and imprisonment, in respect of any non-

observance of any such regulation

Provided further that where the act

constituting the offence subsists for more than one

day, the Court may in addition impose a fine

(multa) not exceeding ten thousand euro (€10,000)

for each day during which such act subsists which

fine (multa) shall also be applicable for the

purposes of article 377(3) of the Criminal Code

Provided further that the Minister may

establish different regulations for different kinds of

licences and provide conditions that bind licensees

to be financially liable for any prevention and

remediation of any damage, including damage to

the environment, cause of exploration, prospecting

and extraction of petroleum in Malta."; and

(e)

immediately after sub-article (1) thereof, as

renumbered, there shall be added the following new sub-article

"(2) Regulations, rules and orders made under

any of the provisions of this Act may be made in

the English language only.".

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 266 of the

20th May, 2015.

A NĠLU F ARRUGIA

Speaker

R AYMOND S CICLUNA

Clerk of the House of Representatives

€0.54