As indicated above, the Joint Authority may take into consideration, amongst other things, the applicant's past performance in other petroleum exploration areas in Australia or, if relevant, elsewhere. This may occur even where the applicant's proposed work program is the highest submitted.
This would particularly apply in the situation where one or more of the applicants were participants in previous permits that had been cancelled because of default in meeting work program commitments and where there was no agreement to maintain good standing. (Further information on good standing arrangements can be found in Section 3.)
Although any cancellation would be taken into account and the circumstances of the default would be relevant, consideration would generally be given to cancellations occurring in the previous five years.
In the event of consideration being given to prior cancellation and where this would be a significant factor in the decision to offer a permit, the applicant would be given the opportunity to establish that the earlier failure was irrelevant to the current situation and that default would not occur in the current application.
A record will be maintained of companies that have defaulted on work program commitments and have not taken advantage of the good standing arrangements. Information about whether a particular company has defaulted on work program commitments and has not taken advantage of the good standing arrangements will be provided to a Designated Authority.