PETROLEUM (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 3.34 p.m.

The Senior Minister of State for National Development (Dr Tan Eng Liang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Petroleum Act provides for the licensing of petroleum storage and transportation. Section 20(5) of the Act provides that all licences shall expire on 31st December of each year. This meant an accumulation of work at the end of each year. More than 1,000 licences are involved annually and obviously processing time would be affected since each renewal of licence requires inspection of the premises or vehicles. If the expiry dates were staggered so that renewals could be spread evenly throughout the year, the processing work would be considerably speeded up.

This Bill therefore seeks to amend section 20(5) of the Petroleum Act to enable licences to be issued expiring at any date not exceeding 12 months from the date of issue. The Bill also seeks to validate those licences which have expired under that section of the Act but which are regarded as being valid for the purposes of the Act.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to,

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Tan Eng Liang].

Bill considered in Committee: reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.