48Operator removal notices
(1)This section contains provision about operator removal notices which may be given under section 42 (failure to comply with a petroleum-related requirement).
(2)An operator removal notice may be given only in respect of a failure to comply with a petroleum-related requirement imposed on an operator under a petroleum licence in that capacity.
(3)An operator removal notice is a notice which—
(a)specifies the petroleum-related requirement;
(b)gives details of the failure to comply with the requirement;
(c)informs the operator to whom it is given that, with effect from a date specified in the notice (“the removal date”), the licensee under whose licence the operator operates (“the relevant licensee”) is to be required to remove the operator (see subsection (5)).
(4)The OGA must—
(a)give a copy of the operator removal notice to the relevant licensee, and
(b)require the relevant licensee to remove the operator with effect from the removal date.
(5)Where a licensee is required to remove an operator from a specified date, the licensee must ensure that, with effect from that date, the operator does not exercise any function of organising or supervising any of the operations of searching for, boring for, or getting petroleum in pursuance of the licensee’s petroleum licence.
(6)The removal date must not be earlier than the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which the operator removal notice was given.
(7)An operator removal notice may not be given in circumstances where the licence under which the operator operates is one which, on the date the notice is given, the OGA would not have the power to grant.
(8)A requirement imposed on a licensee under subsection (4)(b) is sanctionable in accordance with this Chapter.
(9)In this Chapter, “operator under a petroleum licence” has the same meaning as in Part 1A of the Petroleum Act 1998 (see section 9I of that Act).