The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009 
(the Environment Regulations) are used to ensure that petroleum activities are carried out in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. The Australian Government Minister for Resources and Energy administers petroleum exploration and development activities in Australia's offshore areas (beyond the first three nautical miles of territorial sea) with the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) being responsible for the day to day administration of the Regulations.
Under the Regulations, an operator of a petroleum and greenhouse gas activity must submit an Environment Plan to the National Regulator (NOPSEMA) that has appropriate environmental performance objectives and standards as well as measurement criteria for determining whether those objectives and standards are met.
Summary Environment Plans
Under the Environment Regulations, an operator is required to submit a Summary Environment Plan to the National Regulator (NOPSEMA) for public disclosure. Within 10 days of receiving notification that the Environment Plan has been accepted, an electronic version of the summary must be submitted to the National Regulator for posting on the Internet.
Summary Environment Plans submitted for petroleum activities in Commonwealth waters from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2011 can be accessed from the Department’s following web pages:
Summary Environment Plans submitted for petroleum activities in Commonwealth waters from 1 January 2012 can be accessed from the National Regulator (NOPSEMA) website.