Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975

23 Acquisition by persons of rights to use pipe-lines belonging to others

(1) If a person applies to the Secretary of State for a notice in pursuance of this section which secures to the applicant a right to have conveyed, by a controlled pipe-line of which he is not the owner, quantities specified in the application of things which are of a kind so specified and which the pipe-line is designed to convey, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to consider the application and, before he considers it, to give to the owner of the pipe-line and the applicant—

(a) notice that he proposes to consider it; and

(b) an opportunity, after the expiration of the period of twenty-one days beginning with the date of service of the notice, of being heard with respect to the application.

(2) Where after considering an application in pursuance of the preceding subsection the Secretary of State is satisfied that, if he served notice in accordance with the following subsection in consequence of the application, the pipe-line in question could be operated in accordance with the notice without prejudicing the efficient operation of it for the purpose of conveying, on behalf of its owner, the quantities which the owner requires or may reasonably be expected to require of the things which may be conveyed by it in pursuance of an authorisation (or, if no authorisation for the use of the pipe-line is required by section 20 of this Act, of the things which the pipe-line is designed to convey), the Secretary of State may serve such a notice on the owner and the applicant.

(3) A notice served in pursuance of the preceding subsection may contain such provisions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for all or any of the following purposes, namely—

(a) for securing to the applicant, without prejudicing the efficient operation of the pipe-line for the purpose mentioned in the preceding subsection, the right to have conveyed by the pipe-line the quantities specified in the application of the things so specified ;

(b) for securing that the exercise of the right is not prevented or impeded;

(c) for regulating the charges which may be made for the conveyance of things by virtue of the right;

(d) for securing to the applicant the right to have a pipe and apparatus of his connected to the pipe-line by the applicant or the owner ;

and such a notice may also authorise the owner to recover from the applicant payments by way of consideration for any such right of such amounts as may be specified in the notice or determined in accordance with provisions in that behalf contained in the notice.

(4) Where the Secretary of State proposes to serve a notice in pursuance of subsection (5) of section 21 of this Act on a person other than the holder of the relevant authorisation, it shall be his duty before doing so to give that person an opportunity of making an application in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section in respect of the proposed pipe-line to which the authorisation relates; and subsections (1) to (3) of this section shall have effect in relation to such an application made by virtue of this subsection as if for references to a pipe-line and the owner of it there were substituted references to the proposed pipe-line and the proposed owner of it.

(5) Where the Secretary of State proposes to serve a notice in pursuance of subsection (1) of the preceding section on a person other than the owner of the relevant pipe-line, it shall be his duty before doing so to give that person particulars of the modifications which he proposes to specify in the notice and an opportunity of making an application in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section in respect of the pipe-line; and subsections (1) to (3) of this section shall have effect in relation to such an application made by virtue of this subsection as if for references to a pipe-line there were substituted references to the pipe-line as it would be with those modifications.

(6) The use of a pipe-line by any person in accordance with a right secured to him by virtue of this section is not a contravention of section 20(1) of this Act; but a person to whom a right is so secured shall not be entitled to assign the right to any other person.