Land access and other notices before starting petroleum and gas activities

You must submit a range of notices before you begin your exploration or mining activities. This includes notifying:

land owners and occupiers - before you access their land
the public road authority - before you use roads to transport equipment or petroleum
the chief inspector - before you commission or operate plant for the first time.

Read how to meet your notification obligations under Queensland resources legislation, and download a flowchart of requirements for public road use (PDF, 108KB).

Road use

You must notify the public road authority before you use:

a public road, in the area of your authority, for transport related to a seismic survey or drilling activity
any public road at more than the threshold rate for transportation of petroleum produced or processed in the area of your authority.

The threshold rates are:

Refer to the tables below.

The tables below show what you need to submit and how to do it. If you need more help:

refer to the legislation (references in the tables below)
read about accessing private land to make sure you understand your obligations to land owners and occupiers and comply with the Land Access Code

Submit your commissioning or decommissioning report online.

These requirements apply to holders of petroleum resource authorities.

Report/notice and legislation	When to lodge	How to lodge
MINES-01 – Entry notice for private land (MERCPA¹ Chapter 3 Part 2)	At least 10 business days before entry, or less if the land owner and occupier agree and endorse and sign the notice	Give to owner and occupier
MINES-06 – Periodic entry notice to public land (MERCPA s. 57 and MERCPR 24(2))	At least 30 business days before entry	Give to public land authority
MINES-08 – ADR Election notice (MERCPA s. 88)	After the end of the minimum negotiation period (20 business days)	Post or email notice to the relevant mines assessment hub and other relevant party (refer to legislation)
MINES-11 – Negotiation notice (MERCPA s. 84)	Before negotiations	Give to owner and occupier
Periodic report after entry to private land or access land (MERCPA s. 54)	Within 3 months after the end of the entry notice period. When a waiver is given: for an exploration resource authority – within 6 months after the waiver of entry notice was given, or longer as agreed for a production resource authority – within 1 year, or longer as agreed	Give to owner and occupier
Notice of notifiable road use (MERCPR² s. 27)	At least 10 business days before the use starts, or less if agreed to by the public road authority in writing	Submit notice to the public road authority

These requirements apply to all operators of operating plant that is to be commissioned or operated for the first time in Queensland.

Report/notice and legislation	When to lodge	How to lodge
Notice to chief inspector before operating plant is commissioned or operated (P&G Act¹ s. 673A)	Within 20 business days of commissioning or operating plant for first time	Email notice to Chief Inspector Petroleum and Gas at gassafe@rshq.qld.gov.au