Design and relocation notifications for production installation
15.—(1) The operator of a production installation which is to be established in external waters shall—
(a)prepare a design notification containing, subject to paragraph (6), the particulars specified in Schedule 6; and
(b)send the design notification to the competent authority.
(2) The duties in paragraph (1) shall be completed at such time before the submission of a field development plan to the Oil and Gas Authority as will enable the operator to take account—
(a)in the design, and
(b)in the safety case prepared pursuant to regulation 17,
of any matters raised by the competent authority within three months (or such shorter period as the competent authority may specify) of that time.
(3) The operator of a production installation which is to be moved to a new location within external waters (whether from outside external waters or not) and operated there shall—
(a)prepare a relocation notification containing the particulars specified in Schedule 6 not contained in any current safety case for that installation; and
(b)send the relocation notification to the competent authority.
(4) The duties in paragraph (3) shall be completed at such time before the submission of a field development plan to the Oil and Gas Authority as will enable the operator to take account of any matters raised by the competent authority within three months (or such shorter period as the competent authority may specify) of that time.
(5) The competent authority shall respond to the design notification—
(a)with comments to be taken into account by the operator in the safety case; or
(b)where it has no such comments to make, with a statement to that effect.
(6) Paragraph (1) only requires the design notification to contain the particulars referred to in that paragraph to the extent that it is reasonable to expect the operator to address them at the time of sending the design notification to the competent authority.
(7) Where there is a material change in any of the particulars notified pursuant to—
(a)paragraph (1) prior to the operator sending a safety case to the competent authority in accordance with regulation 17(1)(b); or
(b)paragraph (3) prior to the operator sending—
(i)a safety case to the competent authority in accordance with regulation 17(1)(b); or
(ii)revisions to the current safety case to the competent authority in accordance with regulation 24(2),
the operator shall notify the competent authority of that change as soon as practicable.