The Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020

Citation, commencement and application U.K.

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020 and come into force immediately before 11 p.m. on 31st December 2020.

(2) Paragraphs (3), (4) and (5) are subject to paragraph (6).

(3) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), these Regulations apply to projects where they take place wholly or partly within—

(a) tidal waters and parts of the sea adjacent to the United Kingdom from the low water mark up to the seaward limits of territorial waters;

(b) waters in any area for the time being designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 M1 (designation of areas of continental shelf);

(c) the seabed and subsoil under the waters referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).

(4) Where a project is within section 2(3) of the Energy Act 2008 M2 (activities related to unloading or storage of combustible gas) these Regulations apply where the project takes place wholly or partly within a “controlled place”, as defined in section 2(4) of that Act.

(5) Where a project is within section 17(2) of the Energy Act 2008 (activities related to the geological storage of carbon dioxide) these Regulations apply where the project takes place wholly or partly within an “offshore controlled place”, as defined in section 35(1) of that Act, where the licensing authority is the OGA as determined in accordance with section 18 of that Act.

(6) These Regulations do not apply to the following projects—

(a) those to which the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 M3 apply, where the appropriate authority under those Regulations is a devolved authority or the Natural Resources Body for Wales;

(b) those to which the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 M4 apply.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in force at 31.12.2020 immediately before 11 p.m., see reg. 1(1)

Marginal Citations

M1 1964 c. 29. Section 1(7) of the Act was amended by paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 (c. 23); and by section 103 of the Energy Act 2011 (c. 16).

M2 2008 c. 32. Section 2 of the Act was amended by section 14(2) of the Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20).

M3 S.I. 2007/1518. “Appropriate authority” and “devolved authority” are defined in regulation 2(1) of the Regulations. The Regulations are amended by S.I. 2009/2258, S.I. 2011/735, S.I. 2013/755, S.I. 2015/446, S.I. 2017/588, S.I. 2018/287, S.I. 2018/942, S.I. 2019/25, S.I. 2020/904. The Regulations are revoked for Scotland by S.S.I. 2017/115.

M4 S.I. 2017/115. Amended by S.I. 2017/168, S.I. 2017/1013, S.I. 2019/55 and S.I. 2020/157.