1.—(1) In this licence the following expressions have the following meanings—
“consent” means consent in writing;
“the Exploration Area” means the area comprising all the areas in which the Licensee may for the time being exercise any of the rights granted by this licence;
“licensed activities” means the activities carried on pursuant to this licence;
“the Licensee” means the person (or all the persons) specified in Schedule 1 as licence holders);
“the Minister” means the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change;
“Petroleum” includes any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural condition in strata, but does not include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation;
“right” includes authorisation;
“Start Date” means the date specified as such in Schedule 2; and
“Well” includes borehole.
(2) Any reference in this licence to a clause or a Schedule is a reference to a clause of, or Schedule to, this licence; and any reference in a clause to a paragraph is to a paragraph of that clause.
(3) Any obligations which are to be observed and performed by the Licensee shall at any time at which the Licensee is more than one person be joint and several obligations.