The Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2020

Statutory Instruments

2020 No. 1185

Offshore Installations

The Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2020

Made

28th October 2020

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2)

The Secretary of State makes this Order—

(a)

in exercise of the powers conferred by section 22 of the Petroleum Act 1987(1); and

(b)

for the purpose of giving effect to proposals submitted by the Health and Safety Executive under section 24(2A)(2) of that Act.

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2020.

(2) This Order comes into force 21 days after the day on which it is made (“the general coming into force date”), except for article 2(2) which comes into force as provided in article 2(3).

Establishment of safety zones

2.—(1) A safety zone is established around each installation specified in column 1 of the table in Part 1 of the Schedule (being an installation stationed in waters to which subsection (7) of section 21 of the Petroleum Act 1987 applies) having a radius of five hundred metres, as respects that installation, from the point which has the co-ordinates of latitude and longitude according to the World Geodetic System 1984(3) specified in columns 2 and 3 of the table in Part 1 of the Schedule.

(2) A safety zone is established around the installation specified in column 1 of the table in Part 2 of the Schedule (being an installation to be stationed in waters to which subsection (7) of section 21 of the Petroleum Act 1987 applies) having a radius of five hundred metres, as respects that installation, from the point which has the co-ordinates of latitude and longitude according to the World Geodetic System 1984 specified in columns 2 and 3 of the table in Part 2 of the Schedule.

(3) Paragraph (2) comes into force, as respects the installation—

(a) on the general coming into force date, where the installation arrives at its station before that date; and

(b) when the installation arrives at its station, in any other case.

Amendment of the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No.2) Order 2019

3.—(1) The Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No.2) Order 2019(4) is amended as follows.

(2) In the Schedule (installations), in Part 2, omit the entry relating to “Well WPOZ”.

Mims Davies

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department of Work and Pensions

28th October 2020

Article 2

SCHEDULE INSTALLATIONS

PART 1 Installations stationed at the time this Order is made

(1) Name or other designation	(2) Latitude	(3) Longitude
Amethyst A1D, Amethyst, Block 47/14a	53° 36.63’N	00° 43.35’E
Amethyst A2D, Amethyst, Block 47/14a	53° 37.35’N	00° 47.35’E
Amethyst B1D, Amethyst, Block 47/15a	53° 33.66’N	00° 52.63’E
Amethyst C1D, Amethyst, Block 47/14a	53° 38.70’N	00° 36.13’E
Callanish (F5) Subsea, Callanish, Block 15/29b	57° 59.521’N	00° 45.116’E
Columbus Tie-In Structure, Lomond (Columbus), Block 23/16f	57° 20.940’N	02° 05.105’E
DUTA Structure, Huntington, Block 22/14b	57° 36.85’N	01° 38.40’E
Penguins Riser Base Manifold, Penguins, Block 211/13a	61° 35.20’N	01° 32.72’E
Seagull Well 22/29c-JA, Seagull, Block 22/29c	57° 09.23’N	01° 40.40’E
Solan Well P3, Solan, Block 205/26a	60° 03.59’N	03° 59.56’W

PART 2 Installations not stationed at the time this Order is made

(1) Name or other designation	(2) Latitude	(3) Longitude
Elgood Wellhead, Elgood, Block 48/22c	53° 18.331’N	01° 23.171’E

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 2 of this Order establishes, under section 22 of the Petroleum Act 1987 (c. 12) (“the Act”), safety zones having a radius of 500 metres from the specified point around the 11 installations (which are subsea installations) specified in the Schedule to this Order stationed, or to be stationed, in waters to which section 21(7) of that Act applies (these include territorial waters and waters in areas designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 (c. 29)).

An automatic safety zone is currently established around each of the installations known respectively as Amethyst A1D, Amethyst A2D, Amethyst B1D and Amethyst C1D. It is intended that each of these installations will be dismantled by 31st December 2025. In accordance with section 21(3) of the Act, an automatic safety zone will cease to apply to an installation where, relevantly for these purposes, an order made under section 22 of the Act applies. In order to maintain a safety zone around these installations as they are dismantled, the automatic safety zones will be replaced and replicated by the safety zones established by this Order.

Section 23(1) of the Act prohibits vessels, which for these purposes include hovercraft, submersible apparatus and installations in transit, from entering or remaining in a safety zone except with the consent of the Health and Safety Executive or in accordance with regulations made under section 23(1) of the Act (currently regulation 21H of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/738), inserted by paragraph 14 of Schedule 13 to S.I. 2015/398).

It is estimated that the installation specified in the table in Part 2 of the Schedule (Elgood Wellhead) will arrive at its station at the earliest by January 2021.

Article 3 amends the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No.2) Order 2019 (S.I. 2019/116) to omit, from Part 2 of the Schedule to that Order, the reference to Well WPOZ.

(1)

1987 c. 12.

(2)

Section 24(2A) was inserted by S.I. 1993/1823 and amended by S.I. 2008/960.

(3)

The World Geodetic System 1984 (“WGS 84”) defines a reference frame for the Earth, for use in geodesy and navigation. It was developed by the United States’ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and is maintained by it. WGS 84 is defined at paragraph 2.1 of the United States’ National Imagery and Mapping Agency Technical Report TR8350.2, third edition, amendment 1 of 3rd January 2000 entitled “Department of Defense World Geodetic System 1984” (http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/publications/tr8350.2/wgs84fin.pdf). Hard-copies are available upon request from the offices of the Health and Safety Executive, Lord Cullen House, Fraser Place, Aberdeen, AB25 3UB.

(4)

S.I. 2019/1166, as amended by S.I. 2020/390.