Where an application is made to the Secretary of State under section 17F(5) in respect of a pipeline which is situated partly in, under or over controlled waters and partly in a foreign sector of the continental shelf, the Secretary of State shall consult the relevant authorities in the other country with respect to the application before considering it himself.

For the purpose of considering an application under section 17F(5), the Secretary of State may by notice require the owner or the applicant to provide him with such information relevant to the application as may be specified or described in the notice.

The information mentioned in subsection (2) may, in particular, include financial information relevant to the owner’s or the applicant’s activities with respect to petroleum production projects and controlled petroleum pipelines.

The Secretary of State shall not disclose to any person any information obtained under subsection (2) without the consent of the person by or on behalf of whom it was provided, unless he is required to do so by virtue of any obligation imposed on him by or under any enactment.

In section 17F(9), “permitted substances” means the things which may be conveyed by the pipeline in accordance with an authorisation (or, if no authorisation for the use of the pipeline is required by section 14(1), means the things which the pipeline is designed to convey).

Before serving a notice under section 15(6) on a person other than the holder of the relevant authorisation, the Secretary of State shall give that person an opportunity to make applications under section 17F in respect of the proposed pipeline to which the authorisation relates; and section 17F and subsections (1) to (5) above shall have effect for this purpose as if references to a pipeline and the owner of it were references to the proposed pipeline and the proposed owner of it.

Before serving a notice under section 16(1) on a person other than the owner of the relevant pipeline, the Secretary of State shall give that person particulars of the modifications which he proposes to specify in the notice and an opportunity to make applications under section 17F in respect of the pipeline; and section 17F and subsections (1) to (5) above shall have effect for this purpose as if references to a pipeline were references to the pipeline as it would be with those modifications.

The use of a pipeline by any person in accordance with a right secured to him by the Secretary of State by virtue of section 17F is not a contravention of section 14(1); but a person to whom a right is so secured may not assign the right to any other person.