The Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020

Requirement for Consent

4.—(1) A developer must not commence a project without the Secretary of State’s agreement to the OGA’s grant of consent and the consent of the OGA.

(2) The OGA must not grant consent regarding a project without the agreement of the Secretary of State.

(3) The Secretary of State must not agree to the grant of consent for a project unless—

(a) an environmental impact assessment has been carried out; or

(b) an environmental impact assessment is not required, pursuant to regulations 5, 6 or 7.

(4) When the Secretary of State notifies the developer of the Secretary of State’s agreement to the grant of consent, the Secretary of State may attach conditions to the agreement that the developer must comply with, including environmental conditions to avoid, prevent, reduce or offset any significant adverse effects on the environment, and measures to monitor such conditions (“a monitoring condition”).

(5) When deciding whether to impose a monitoring condition pursuant to paragraph (4), the Secretary of State must—

(a) consider whether there are appropriate existing monitoring arrangements under legislation aside from these Regulations that make the imposition of a monitoring condition unnecessary;

(b) take steps to ensure that the parameters to be monitored and the duration of the monitoring are proportionate to the nature, location and size of the project and the significance of its effects on the environment.