HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed three key bills for Pennsylvania’s energy sector, including a wide-ranging bill that updates regulations surrounding the state’s booming natural gas industry and removes Pennsylvania’s distinction as the nation‘s largest gas-producing state that does not impose a levy on the activity.

Among the other bills that Corbett signed privately was one that would allow public utilities to charge ratepayers up front for improvements to power lines and water, sewer and natural gas pipelines, and another that could deliver long-term tax breaks to a buyer of three Philadelphia-area oil refineries that are shutting down and a massive petrochemical refinery that may be built in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The latter bill is a centerpiece of Pennsylvania’s competitive pitch in a race against Ohio and West Virginia to persuade a subsidiary of Netherlands-based oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC to build a petrochemical refinery in the Pittsburgh area, potentially meaning thousands of new jobs and millions of tax dollars for the state.

Under the natural-gas drilling bill passed last week by the state Legislature, Marcellus Shale exploration companies will be required to pay an “impact fee” to help fund various state and local government programs, although the comparable tax rate they would pay would be well below what many other major natural-gas producing states require.

The decision of whether to impose the fee will be left up to local governments.