The Oil and Gas Authority (Offshore Petroleum) (Disclosure of Protected Material after Specified Period) Regulations 2018

PART 1 General

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Oil and Gas Authority (Offshore Petroleum) (Disclosure of Protected Material after Specified Period) Regulations 2018 and come into force on the twenty-first day after the day on which they are made.

General application

2.  Subject to regulation 3, these Regulations apply to the following protected material(1) obtained by the OGA(2) under Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the Energy Act 2016—

(a) material falling within regulations 5 to 7 (information relating to geological surveys) where the end of the calendar year in which the information is acquired or created by or on behalf of an offshore licensee(3) occurs after the commencement of these Regulations; and

(b) material falling within regulations 8 to 21 (other information relating to offshore petroleum activities) where the event which under these Regulations determines the time at, or after which, the material may be published or made available to the public occurs after the commencement of these Regulations.

Application in relation to the determination of an offshore licence

3.—(1) Paragraph (2) applies where—

(a) these Regulations permit the publication of protected material after the determination of an offshore licence(4); and

(b) the determination relates to only part of the area in respect of which the licence was granted.

(2) These Regulations are to be applied to the protected material relating to the part of the area to which the determination relates only unless that is the only area in respect of which the licence continued to have effect.

Interpretation

4.—(1) In these Regulations—

“characteristics” includes temperature and pressure;

“computerised model” means a model which—

(a)

provides a spatial representation of the distribution of sediment and rock in the subsurface, or

(b)

simulates the flow of petroleum or any other fluid in a reservoir;

“determination” means any of the following events in relation to all or part of the area in respect of which an offshore licence is granted—

(a)

a surrender of rights under the licence;

(b)

the expiry of the licence;

(c)

the revocation of the licence by the OGA where the revocation is in respect of every person who is a licensee with an interest in the area in respect of which the licence is revoked;

“development plan” means a plan or programme of activity under an offshore licence which satisfies the following conditions—

(a)

a clause corresponding to model clause 17(1) of the Schedule to the Petroleum Licensing (Production) (Seaward Areas) Regulations 2008(5) applies to the plan or programme, and

(b)

the OGA has—

(i)

given consent or approval to the plan or programme, or

(ii)

served the plan or programme on the licensee;

“petroleum” has the meaning given in section 1 of the Petroleum Act 1998(6);

“pipeline works authorisation” means an authorisation given by the OGA in accordance with section 15 of the Petroleum Act 1998(7);

“production information” means information acquired or created by or on behalf of an offshore licensee which relates to—

(a)

the quantity of petroleum or any other fluid which is produced from or injected into a reservoir;

(b)

the chemical composition or characteristics of petroleum or any other fluid which is produced from or injected into a reservoir;

(c)

the quantity of gas which is produced from a reservoir and which is flared, vented or used in or during production from that reservoir;

(d)

the chemical composition or characteristics of gas which is produced from a reservoir and which is flared, vented or used in or during production from that reservoir;

(e)

the quantity of petroleum or any other fluid which is produced or used in or during production from a reservoir and which is transported from the petroleum field; or

(f)

the chemical composition or characteristics of petroleum or any other fluid which is produced or used in or during production from a reservoir and which is transported from the petroleum field;

“production licence” means an offshore licence which confers on the holder of that licence the right to search and bore for, and get, petroleum;

“relevant licence” means the offshore licence under which the activities were carried out in the course of which the protected material to be published or made available to the public was acquired or created;

“relevant offshore installation” has the meaning given in section 9HA of the Petroleum Act 1998(8);

“relevant upstream petroleum infrastructure” means a relevant oil processing facility or a relevant gas processing facility as defined for the purposes of section 9H of the Petroleum Act 1998(9);

“well” includes borehole.

(2) In regulations 6 and 7, “processing” means any operation performed on data acquired or created in the course of a geological survey to generate an image of the subsurface.

(1)

“Protected material” is defined in section 62(1) of the Energy Act 2016.

(2)

“The OGA” is defined as the Oil and Gas Authority in section 1(4) of the Energy Act 2016.

(3)

“Offshore licensee” is defined in section 18(1) of the Energy Act 2016.

(4)

“Offshore licence” is defined in section 18(1) of the Energy Act 2016.

(5)

S.I. 2008/225. Model clause 17 is amended by S.I. 2016/912.

(6)

1998 c. 17.

(7)

Section 15 is amended by paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to the Energy Act 2016, paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 to the Energy Act 2011 (c. 16) and S.I. 2011/2305 and S.I. 2000/1937.

(8)

Section 9HA was inserted by section 73(4) of the Energy Act 2016.

(9)

Section 9H was inserted by section 41 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 (c. 7) and substituted by section 74(2) of the Energy Act 2016.