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Petroleum prospecting licences.
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9.—(1) The Minister may, subject to subsection (2) of this section, grant to any person a licence (in this Part referred to as a petroleum prospecting licence) in respect of petroleum under any land.
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(2) The Minister shall not grant a petroleum prospecting licence in respect of petroleum under any land unless, at least twenty-one days before doing so, he has—
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(a) published, in one or more newspapers circulating in the locality, notice of his intention to do so, and
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(b) deposited in the office of the Geological Survey, Dublin and in one or more places in the locality, a map showing the boundaries of such land.
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(3) Every petroleum prospecting licence shall be granted upon such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit and specifies therein.
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(4) On the granting of a petroleum prospecting licence, the licensee shall pay to the Minister such consideration therefor as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.
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(5) Every petroleum prospecting licence shall be expressed and operate to authorise the licensee, during the currency of such period as is specified in the licence, to enter on the land specified in the licence and there do all such things as the licensee considers necessary or desirable for the purpose of ascertaining the character, extent or value of the petroleum under such land and, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, for the purpose aforesaid, to make geological, geophysical, geochemical and topographic examinations and to make borings, sink pits, remove water from old workings and take and remove reasonable quantities of petroleum and other minerals for the purpose of analysis, test, trial or experiment.
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(6) Every petroleum prospecting licence shall contain an indemnity clause whereby the licensee indemnifies the Minister against any claim or demand whatsoever in respect of the land the subject of the licence or in any way arising out of the exercise by the licensee of the rights conferred on him by the licence.
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(7) Every petroleum prospecting licence shall contain a clause requiring the licensee to exercise the rights conferred on him by the licence in such manner as not to interfere unnecessarily with the amenities of the area to which the licence relates.
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(8) (a) A petroleum prospecting licence shall not confer on the licensee a right to sell or otherwise dispose of any petroleum found under the land specified in the licence.
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(b) Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be construed as preventing the licensee under a petroleum prospecting licence from taking and removing reasonable quantities of petroleum for the purposes of analysis, test, trial or experiment.
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