ACCC grants final approval to Queensland oil joint marketing arrangements
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued its final decision authorising Santos QNT Pty Ltd and ten other oil producers to jointly market their oil produced in the Surat Basin and Denison Trough in Queensland. Oil includes crude oil and condensate.
Without approval of these joint marketing arrangements, the ACCC considers it likely that a number of the producers would cease oil production. As such, the arrangements will help to maintain current levels of domestic production.
The producers currently transport oil from the Surat Basin and Denison Trough to the Lytton storage facilities in Brisbane. Oil production from these regions represents a very small proportion of total oil production in Australia (currently around 0.3 per cent), with some of the producers producing as little as a few barrels of oil per day. Given the small volume of oil covered by the arrangements, as well as the significant influence of global oil prices on domestic oil supply contracts, the ACCC considers there is little, if any, anti-competitive detriment likely to result from the joint marketing arrangements.
The ACCC previously granted conditional interim authorisation to the arrangements on 24 March 2010.
Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment. Interim authorisation allows the parties to engage in the conduct prior to the ACCC considering the substantive merits of the application.
