Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires“Belize Barrier Reef System” means all that area bounded to the north by geographical coordinates UTM 412 384 E, 2009 873N, and bounded to the south by geographical coordinates 361402 E, 1777501 N, in NAD 27 Zone 16, without limit to the East and West, comprising corals, coral reefs, atolls, islands, sea grass beds, mangroves and other associated critical habitats and their inhabitants; “maritime zone of Belize” means– (a) the internal waters; (b) the territorial sea; and (c) the exclusive economic zone, as respectively defined in the Maritime Areas Act, and includes the Belize Barrier Reef System, but does not include that part of the internal waters that is landward of the low-water line along the coast of the mainland of Belize; “Minister” means the Minister with the responsibility for “natural gas” means all petroleum which at atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure is in a gaseous state; and includes wet mineral gas, wet gas and residue gas remaining after the extraction, processing or separation of liquid petroleum Petroleum Operations (Maritime Zone Moratorium) 5 from wet gas, as well as non-petroleum gas or gases produced in association with liquid or gaseous petroleum; “petroleum” means all natural organic substances composed of carbon and hydrogen which may be removed from the earth (including the seabed) and includes crude oil, natural gas and the oils derived from tar, sands, shale and coal, natural gas, and all other mineral substances, products, by-products and derivatives that are found in conjunction with those substances; and “petroleum operations” means the operations related to the exploration, development, extraction, production, field separation, transportation, storage, or disposal of petroleum, but does not include any transportation or other operations in relation to petroleum that is imported into or exported from Belize by way of the maritime zone.