Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

240 Marine licensing: oil and gas and other reserved matters

(1) The Secretary of State may appoint persons for the purposes of enforcing Part 4 of this Act, so far as relating to—

(a) any activity in the Scottish offshore region falling within section 113(3) (activities relating to certain reserved matters);

(b) any activity in Wales or the Welsh inshore region concerning or arising from the exploration for, or production of, petroleum;

(c) anything done in the course of taking installation abandonment measures in any other part of the relevant enforcement area.

(2) For the purposes referred to in subsection (1), a person appointed under this section has—

(a) the common enforcement powers conferred by this Act;

(b) the power conferred by section 263.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), the powers which a person appointed under this section has for the purposes referred to in subsection (1) may be exercised—

(a) in the relevant enforcement area (and in relation to any vessel, aircraft or marine structure in that area);

(b) in relation to any vessel or marine structure outside the UK marine area which was loaded within the relevant enforcement area;

(c) in relation to any British vessel, British aircraft or British marine structure outside the UK marine area;

(d) in Scotland or Northern Ireland, or the Scottish or Northern Ireland inshore region, in relation to an offence which the person reasonably believes has been committed—

(i) within the relevant enforcement area, or

(ii) outside the UK marine area and in circumstances where a vessel, aircraft or marine structure referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) was involved in the commission of the offence.

(4) The powers which a person appointed under this section has for the purposes referred to in subsection (1) may not be exercised in relation to any British warship.

(5) Nothing in this section affects any right of hot pursuit which a person appointed under this section may have under international law.

(6) In this section—

• “installation abandonment measures” means any measures taken in connection with the abandonment of—

  (a)

  an offshore installation or submarine pipeline, within the meaning of Part 4 of the Petroleum Act 1998 (c. 17), or

  (b)

  a carbon storage installation, within the meaning of section 30 of the Energy Act 2008 (c. 32),

  whether or not the measures are taken in pursuance of an abandonment programme;

• “abandonment programme” means—

  (a)

  an abandonment programme under Part 4 of the Petroleum Act 1998;

  (b)

  an abandonment programme under that Part, as it applies by virtue of section 30 of the Energy Act 2008;

• “the relevant enforcement area” means the area that consists of—

  (a)

  England and Wales, and

  (b)

  the UK marine licensing area, excluding the Northern Ireland inshore region.

(7) Any term used in this section and in Part 4 of this Act has the same meaning in this section as it has in that Part.