12Acquisition of rights to use gas processing facilities
(1)In the case of any gas processing facility operated otherwise than by a public gas transporter, any person may, after giving the owner of the facility not less than 28 days' notice, apply to the Secretary of State for directions under this section which would secure to the applicant a right to have processed by the facility, during a period specified in the application, quantities so specified of gas which—
(a)is of a kind so specified; and
(b)is of, or of a kind similar to, the kind which the facility is designed to process.
(2)Where an application is made under subsection (1) above, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State—
(a)to decide whether the application is to be adjourned (so as to enable negotiations or further negotiations to take place), considered further or rejected;
(b)to give notice of his decision to the applicant; and
(c)in the case of a decision that the application is to be considered further, to give to the owner of the facility, to any person who has a right to have gas processed by the facility, and to the Health and Safety Executive, notice that the application is to be so considered and an opportunity of being heard about the matter.
(3)Where, after further considering an application under subsection (1) above, the Secretary of State is satisfied that the giving of directions under this section would not prejudice the efficient operation of the facility, or the processing by the facility of—
(a)the quantities of gas which the owner of the facility or any associate of the owner requires or may reasonably be expected to require to be processed by the facility for the purposes of any business carried on by him; and
(b)the quantities of gas which any person who is not such an associate and has a right to have gas processed by the facility is entitled to require to be so processed in the exercise of that right,
the Secretary of State may give such directions to the owner of the facility.
(4)Directions under this section may—
(a)specify the terms on which the Secretary of State considers the owner of the facility should enter into an agreement with the applicant for all or any of the following purposes—
(i)for securing to the applicant the right to have processed by the facility, during the period specified in the directions and in the quantities so specified, gas which is of a kind so specified;
(ii)for securing that the exercise of that right is not prevented or impeded;
(iii)for regulating the charges which may be made for the processing of gas by virtue of that right;
(iv)for securing to the applicant such ancillary or incidental rights as the Secretary of State considers necessary or expedient, which may include the right to have a pipe-line of his connected to the facility by the owner;
(b)specify the sums or the method of determining the sums which the Secretary of State considers should be paid by way of consideration for any such right; and
(c)require the owner, if the applicant pays or agrees to pay those sums within a period specified in that behalf in the directions, to enter into an agreement with him on the terms so specified.
(5)Section 22 of the 1986 Act (effect of directions) shall apply in relation to any directions under this section as it applies in relation to any directions under section 19 or 21(1) of that Act; and in subsection (4) of that section as applied by this subsection, the reference to the Director shall be construed as a reference to the Secretary of State.
(6)In this section—
“gas” means any substance which is or (if it were in a gaseous state) would be gas within the meaning of Part I of the 1986 Act;
“gas processing facility” means any facility which carries out gas processing operations;
“gas processing operation” means any of the following operations, namely—
(a)purifying, blending, odorising or compressing gas for the purpose of enabling it to be introduced into a pipe-line system operated by a public gas transporter or to be conveyed to an electricity generating station, a gas storage facility or any place outside Great Britain;
(b)removing from gas for that purpose any of its constituent gases, or separating from gas for that purpose any oil or water; and
(c)determining the quantity or quality of gas which is or is to be so introduced, or so conveyed, whether generally or by or on behalf of a particular person,
and “process”, in relation to gas, shall be construed accordingly;
“owner”, in relation to a gas processing facility, includes a lessee and any person occupying or having control of the facility;
“pipe-line” has the same meaning as in the [1962 c. 58.] Pipe-lines Act 1962;
“public gas transporter” has the same meaning as in Part I of the 1986 Act.
(7)For the purposes of this section a person is an associate of the owner of a gas processing facility if—
(a)both of them are companies; and
(b)one of the companies has control of the other, or both are under the control of the same person or persons;
and subsections (2) to (5) of section 416 of the [1988 c. 1.] Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 shall apply for the purposes of paragraph (b) above as they apply for the purposes of Part XI of that Act.
(8)In relation to any time before the appointed day, this section shall have effect as if for the words “public gas transporter”, in each place where they occur, there were substituted the words “public gas supplier”.