1Exploration and exploitation of continental shelf
(1)Any rights exercisable by the United Kingdom outside territorial waters with respect to the sea bed and subsoil and their natural resources, except so far as they are exercisable in relation to coal, are hereby vested in Her Majesty.
(2)In relation to any coal with respect to which those rights are exercisable the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 shall apply as it applies in relation to coal in Great Britain, but with the modification that the National Coal Board shall not engage in any operations for the purpose of working or getting the coal without the consent of the Minister of Power, which may be given on such terms and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit.
(3)In relation to any petroleum with respect to which those rights are exercisable sections 2 and 6 of the Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 (which relate to the granting of licences to search and bore for, and get, petroleum) shall apply as they apply in relation to petroleum in Great Britain, and section 3 of that Act (which enables persons holding licences under that Act to acquire ancillary rights) and section 5 of that Act (which makes provision as to receipts and expenditure under that Act) shall have effect as if this subsection were part of that Act.
(4)Model clauses prescribed under section 6 of the Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 as applied by the preceding subsection shall include provision for the safety, health and welfare of persons employed on operations undertaken under the authority of any licence granted under that Act as so applied.
(5)The Minister of Power shall for each financial year prepare and lay before Parliament a report stating—
(a)the licences under the said Act of 1934 granted in that year in respect of areas beyond low-water mark and the persons to whom and the areas in respect of which they were granted, and the like information as respects such licences held at the end of that year;
(b)the total amount of natural gas and of other petroleum gotten in that year in pursuance of licences held in respect of such areas; and
(c)the method used for arriving at the amounts payable by way of consideration for such licences.
(6)The general duty of the Minister of Power of securing the effective and co-ordinated development of such resources in Great Britain as are mentioned in section 1(1) of the Ministry of Fuel and Power Act 1945 shall extend to any such resources outside Great Britain with respect to which the said rights are exercisable.
(7)Her Majesty may from time to time by Order in Council designate any area as an area within which the rights mentioned in subsection (1) of this section are exercisable, and any area so designated is in this Act referred to as a designated area.
(8)In this section " coal" has the same meaning as in the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 and " petroleum " has the same meaning as in the Petroleum (Production) Act 1934.