"Amendments must not be compromised by the Government's 90-day legislative plan - rather amendments must be well considered and determined following a consultative process."

It said, in particular, it wanted to know how liability would be determined, and did not want any backdating of liability either.

"The petroleum mining sector has had enough to deal with given the law changes made by the last two Labour Government regimes which brought Sovereign Risk to the sector and sent international petroleum companies packing," it said.