Finance Act 2007

102 Abolition of PRT for fields recommissioned after earlier decommissioning

(1) Section 185 of FA 1993 (abolition of PRT for oil fields with development consents on or after 16th March 1993) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) (meaning of “non-taxable field” and “taxable field”), after paragraph (b) insert “or an oil field which does not meet the conditions in paragraphs (a) and (b) above but which does meet the conditions in subsection (1A) below”.

(3) After that subsection insert—

“(1A) An oil field meets the conditions in this subsection if—

(a) the Secretary of State has at any time approved one or more abandonment programmes under Part 4 of the Petroleum Act 1998 (or Part 1 of the Petroleum Act 1987) in relation to all assets of the field which are relevant assets;

(b) those programmes have been carried out to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State;

(c) a development decision is made in relation to the field; and

(d) that decision is made on or after 16th March 1993 and after those programmes have been so carried out.

(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A)(a) above, an asset is a relevant asset of an oil field if—

(a) it has at any time been a qualifying asset (within the meaning of the 1983 Act) in relation to any participator in the field; and

(b) it has at any time been used for the purpose of winning oil from the field.

(1C) For the purposes of subsection (1A)(c) and (d) above, a development decision is made in relation to an oil field when—

(a) consent for development is granted to a licensee by the Secretary of State in respect of the whole or part of the field; or

(b) a programme of development is served on a licensee or approved by the Secretary of State for the whole or part of the field.”

(4) In subsection (7) (meaning of “development” etc), for “subsections (1) and (2)” substitute “this section”.

(5) An oil field which meets the conditions in subsection (1A) of section 185 of FA 1993 (as inserted by subsection (3) above) becomes a non-taxable field for the purposes of any enactment relating to petroleum revenue tax—

(a) in any case where the development decision is made before 1st July 2007, on that date, and

(b) in any other case, on the date on which the development decision is made.