Asked by: Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans there are for reviewing the decommissioning policy for UK oil and gas installations at the end of their operating life.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The policy for the decommissioning of UK Offshore oil and gas installations is based on the International Marine Organisation guidelines, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and ultimately OSPAR decision 98/3, which prohibits the dumping, and the leaving wholly or partly in place, of disused offshore installations within the maritime area. A derogation to leave installations or parts of installations in place can be agreed, if the installations were put in place prior to 1999 and the jacket is over 10,000 tonnes, or if it is a gravity-based concrete installation.
We comply with our legal obligations and the policy is fully understood and well accepted by industry, NGOs, statutory nature conservation bodies and other users of the sea. We have no current plans to review this policy; however we are constantly updating our guidance to reflect what we and industry have learned from the removal of infrastructure already decommissioned.
Asked by: Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are proposed to stimulate new exploration and appraisal drilling on the UK Continental Shelf.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
In addition to establishing the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), over the last two years the Government has introduced a package of measures for the oil and gas industry worth £2.3bn. This included £40 million of funding for new seismic surveys to stimulate exploration and investment in existing and frontier areas in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), and funding for the Oil and Gas Technology Centre to serve as a global centre for solving the challenges of mature basins and maximising economic recovery of the UKCS. In addition, the OGA has awarded over £450,000 in an industry competition to improve the geological understanding of specific areas of the UKCS, taken forward two recent offshore licensing rounds, and introduced a new “Innovate Licence” to give operators greater flexibility around their work programme.