Definitions

1   In this Act:

"board" means the Surface Rights Board referred to in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act;

"interest" includes any right, title, claim or interest;

"natural gas" and "petroleum" have the same meanings as in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act;

"railway lands" means the lands on Vancouver Island granted to the Dominion Government by section 3 of An Act Relating to the Island Railway, the Graving Dock, and Railway Lands of the Province, S.B.C. 1884, c. 14, and includes the lands referred to in sections 4 and 6 of that Act.

Confirmation of dispositions

2   (1) In this section, "disposition" means every disposition or purported disposition of any interest in petroleum or natural gas or both in the railway lands made, before June 17, 1986, by the government under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act or any enactment replaced by that Act.

(2) Every disposition is confirmed and ratified, and for this purpose it is declared that every interest in petroleum and natural gas that

(a) existed in the railway lands affected by the disposition, and

(b) was not, at the time of the disposition, vested in the government

was, immediately before that disposition, transferred to, vested in and reserved to the government.

(3) This section is retroactive to the extent necessary to give it full effect.

(4) Nothing in this section operates to revive or reinstate an interest that a person had under a disposition if that interest was subsequently abandoned, forfeited or surrendered to the government or otherwise extinguished.

Confirmation of government title

3   (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may order that all interests in petroleum and natural gas in any part of the railway lands is confirmed in or transferred to, and is vested in and reserved to, the government if

(a) before June 17, 1986, the petroleum and natural gas in that part of those lands has not been the subject of a disposition or purported disposition of petroleum or natural gas or both under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act, and

(b) the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers that in order to facilitate exploration for or extraction of petroleum or natural gas or both, it is desirable to make an order under this section.

(2) An order under subsection (1)

(a) must describe that part of the railway lands in respect of which it applies, with sufficient particularity to identify the lands, and

(b) is, despite any other enactment, but subject to subsections (3) and (4), effective without further conveyance or transfer, to transfer to and vest in the government all those interests in petroleum and natural gas in the lands so described as are not already vested in the government.

(3) If an order is made under subsection (1), the minister

(a) must publish a copy of the order or a summary of its contents in a newspaper circulating in the area of the land affected, and

(b) may post or erect, on or in the vicinity of the affected land, a sign containing a copy of the order or a summary of its contents.

(4) The transfer and vesting referred to in subsection (2) (b) takes effect 30 days after the copy or summary referred to in subsection (3) is first published as required by that subsection.

Compensation

4   (1) A person who establishes, in accordance with this Act, that, immediately before a transfer to and vesting in the government of petroleum and natural gas under section 2 or under an order under section 3, the person had an interest in that petroleum and natural gas is, subject to this Act, entitled to compensation from the government.

(2) A person is not entitled to compensation in respect of an interest that the person had in petroleum and natural gas unless the person files in the prescribed manner particulars of the person's claim with the board,

(a) in the case of a transfer and vesting effected by section 2, within one year after June 17, 1986, or

(b) in the case of a transfer and vesting occurring under an order under section 3, within one year after the transfer and vesting takes effect.

(3) A right to compensation under this section is personal property.

(4) Compensation in respect of a person's interest in petroleum and natural gas must not exceed the lesser of

(a) if the petroleum and natural gas is the subject of a petroleum and natural gas lease under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act, the royalty reserved to the government under that Act, or

(b) an amount equivalent to the royalty that the board considers would have been paid to the owner.

Determinations by board

5   (1) The board must determine whether persons who have filed particulars of their claim in accordance with section 4 have established their claim and the amount of compensation payable to them.

(2) For the purpose of this section, Part 17 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act applies, with any additions and modifications the Lieutenant Governor in Council prescribes.

Application of Land Title Act

6   If by the operation of this Act an interest in petroleum and natural gas in railway lands is or becomes vested in the government, that interest is deemed, for the purposes of the application of section 23 (2) (a) of the Land Title Act, to be held by the government under a subsisting exception and reservation contained in the original grant of those lands from the government.

Power to make regulations

7   The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.