The Petroleum (Production) (Seaward Areas) Regulations 1988

Commencement and citation

1.  These Regulations shall come into force on 4th August 1988 and may be cited as the Petroleum (Production) (Seaward Areas) Regulations 1988.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say:–

“block” has the meaning assigned thereto in Regulation 7(2);

“Gazette notice” means a notice published from time to time by the Secretary of State in the London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette and the Belfast Gazette;

“invited application” has the meaning assigned thereto in Regulation 7(1);

“landward areas” means areas on the landward side of the lines referred to in Schedule 1 and “seaward areas” has the meaning assigned thereto in Regulation 3(1);

“low water line” has the same meaning as it has in Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

“non-invited application” has the meaning assigned thereto in Regulation 6(1).

Application of the Regulations

3.—(1) These Regulations shall have effect in relation to applications for, and the model clauses to be prescribed for inclusion (unless the Secretary of State thinks fit to modify or exclude them in any particular case) in, licences:–

(a) to search and bore for, and get, petroleum in strata in the islands on the seaward side of lines drawn in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 1 to these Regulations, in the sea bed and subsoil beneath waters which lie on the seaward side of the said lines and, where such lines are not the outward limit of territorial waters adjacent to Great Britain, within that limit, and in the sea bed and subsoil within any area designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964(1) (in these Regulations referred to as “seaward areas”); and

(b) to search for petroleum in strata in the areas of Great Britain and beneath the waters adjacent thereto which lie in the landward areas between the said lines and the low water line (in these Regulations referred to as “landward areas below the low-water line”).

(2) The provisions of the Regulations specified in Schedule 2 hereto shall cease to have effect in relation to:–

(a) applications made after the date of coming into force of these Regulations for production licences in respect of seaward areas and exploration licences in respect of seaward areas and landward areas below the low water line;

(b) model clauses to be incorporated in any such licence to be granted after the date of coming into force of these Regulations in pursuance of an application lodged after that date.

Applicants for licences

4.  Any person may apply in accordance with these Regulations for:–

(a) a production licence in respect of a seaward area;

(b) an exploration licence in respect of the whole or part of the seaward areas or the landward areas below the low water line.

Applications for licences

5.—(1) An application for a licence shall be made in writing and shall be in the form specified in Schedule 3 hereto or in a form substantially to the like effect, sent to the Licensing Branch, Oil and Gas Division, Department of Energy, London SW1, and shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee and by such evidence and particulars or documents in support thereof as are referred to in that Schedule and are appropriate to that application.

(2) If any of the matters stated in an application or any further information supplied by the applicant shall change after the application is made or after the information is given but before a licence is granted or the Secretary of State informs the applicant that the application is refused, the applicant shall forthwith give notice in writing to the Secretary of State giving particulars of the change.

Non-invited applications

6.—(1) An application for a production licence in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation (in these Regulations called a “non-invited application”) may, subject to paragraph (2), be made in respect of any seaward area.

(2) No non-invited application may be made unless:–

(a) every part of the area to which the application relates is, or has been, comprised in a production licence which was granted in pursuance of an invited application;

(b) every such part is proposed to be, or has been, surrendered by the holder for the time being of the production licence so granted in which it is, or has been, comprised, or has been comprised in a production licence which has been revoked either in whole or in relation to the area to which the application relates; and

(c) the Secretary of State has served notice in writing on such persons as appear to him to be concerned that he would be prepared to consider the application in such circumstances as may be specified in the notice.

Invited applications

7.—(1) Every application for a production licence pursuant to these Regulations, not being a non-invited application made pursuant to the last foregoing Regulation (in these Regulations referred to as an “invited application”), shall be:–

(a) in respect of one or more blocks described or specified by a Gazette notice published in accordance with the next following paragraph;

(b) lodged within the period specified by such a notice as the period during which the Secretary of State is prepared to receive applications in respect of the blocks so specified;and shall not comprise any part of a block.

(2) The Gazette notice referred to in the last foregoing paragraph is a Gazette notice describing or specifying by reference to a map deposited at the principal office of the Department of Energy, and at such other places (if any) as may be specified in the notice, areas (in these Regulations referred to as “blocks”) to which reference numbers shall be assigned, in respect of which he is prepared to receive applications for production licences and specifying the dates within which applications in respect of the blocks so specified are to be made.

Forms of licences

8.—(1) Every licence shall incorporate the model clauses respectively prescribed by the next following paragraph for the kind of licence to which that licence belongs unless the Secretary of State thinks fit to modify or exclude, in any particular case, the clauses so prescribed.

(2) The clauses prescribed for incorporation in licences of the following kinds are those set out in the respective Schedules to these Regulations, that is to say:–

(a) for incorporation in production licences in respect of seaward areas, the clauses set out in Schedule 4; and

(b) for incorporation in exploration licences for seaward areas and for landward areas below the low water line, the clauses set out in Schedule 5.

Fees

9.—(1) With every non-invited application for a production licence there shall be paid a fee of £3,100 but if the application shall be refused on grounds:–

(a) that the Secretary of State proposes to publish a Gazette notice pursuant to Regulation 7 inviting applications for production licences in respect of blocks comprising the whole or any part of the area for a licence in respect of which that application is made; or

(b) that the Secretary of State proposes to grant a licence in respect of the whole or part of the area in respect of which the application is made to an applicant whose application in respect thereof was made to the Secretary of State before receipt of the application which is so refused,

the Secretary of State will repay the fee in respect of the application so refused.

(2) With every invited application for a production licence pursuant to these Regulations there shall be paid a fee of £3,100.

(3) With every application for an exploration licence pursuant to these Regulations there shall be paid a fee of £500.

Plurality of licences

10.  Nothing in these Regulations shall prevent more than one application being made by the same person or more than one licence being granted to him.

Peter Morrison

Minister of State,

Department of Energy

12th July 1988