UK Act of Parliament 1998 United Kingdom

Petroleum Act 1998

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At a glance

Enforced by

NSTA, OPRED

What's here

25 compliance obligations, 4 practical guides across 2 topics

Penalty landscape

7 of 25 obligations carry up to 2 years imprisonment. 5 carry different penalties and 13 have no criminal penalty — flagged in the list below.

Who this Act binds

Business-side actors with duties under this Act, ranked by how often they appear.

  • Any Person 13
  • Landlord 2
  • Director or Officer 2
  • Occupier 1

Plus 7 non-business duties on Crown ministers, regulators, local authorities or tribunals — shown collapsed under each section below.

Relevant guidance

Practical guides for businesses affected by this Act, ordered by how closely they engage with it.

Direct — cites this Act

1 guides

Supporting — topic alignment

3 guides

Other Acts binding the same actors

For each actor bound by this Act, the other UK Acts that bind them most often. Useful for understanding the full compliance landscape facing each role.

Any Person also bound by 749 other Acts (top 5 shown)
Landlords also bound by 70 other Acts (top 5 shown)
Directors and Officers also bound by 224 other Acts (top 5 shown)
Occupiers also bound by 101 other Acts (top 5 shown)

What this Act requires

Sections that create concrete duties on businesses or carry penalties. Procedural and definitional sections are folded into the “Browse other sections” expander at the bottom of each group. Click any section title to read the source text on legislation.gov.uk.

Part 1A — Maximising economic recovery of UK petroleum

s.009

Exercise of certain functions of the OGA

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • NSTA must act in accordance with current energy strategies Statutory regulator
s.009

Exercise of certain functions of the Secretary of State

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • Secretary of State must follow strategy for offshore decommissioning costs Crown / Minister / Government department
s.009

Carrying out of certain petroleum industry activities

  • Align petroleum activities with official government strategies Landlord
s.009

Producing and revising a strategy

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • NSTA must review the UK petroleum strategy every four years Statutory regulator
Browse 7 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.009

The principal objective and the strategy

s.009

Reports by the Secretary of State

s.009

OGA's security and resilience functions

s.009

Procedure for producing and revising a strategy

s.009

“Upstream petroleum infrastructure” and its owners

s.009

“Relevant offshore installations” and their owners

s.009

Other interpretation

Part I — Petroleum

s.005

Information

2 years imprisonment
  • Unauthorised disclosure of licence transfer information Any Person
Browse 13 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.004

Onshore hydraulic fracturing: safeguards

s.004

Section 4A: supplementary provision

s.005

Rights transferred without the consent of appropriate authority

s.005

Offences under section 5B: supplemental

s.005

OGA’s power to require information about change in control of licensee

s.008

Interpretation of Part 1

Part II — Offshore activities

Browse 3 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement

Part III — Submarine pipelines

s.017

Provisions relating to certain offshore gas storage facilities.

  • Publish commercial conditions for offshore gas storage Any Person
s.017

Section 17D: supplemental.

  • Keep accounting records for offshore gas storage activities Occupier
s.017

Acquisition of rights to use controlled petroleum pipelines.

  • Apply to the pipeline owner before seeking regulator intervention Landlord
s.017

Section 17F: supplemental.

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • NSTA may require information regarding pipeline use applications Statutory regulator
s.017

Controlled petroleum pipeline subject to Norwegian access system

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • NSTA must determine disputes over Norwegian pipeline access terms Statutory regulator
s.017

Enforcement of certain duties in sections 17B, 17D and 17E. Enforcement of duty in section 17GA

Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • Secretary of State may enforce petroleum pipeline duties via court order Crown / Minister / Government department
s.022

Criminal proceedings.

2 years imprisonment
  • Unauthorised pipeline works or breach of petroleum regulations Director or Officer
s.025

Orders and regulations.

2 years imprisonment
Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • Secretary of State must consult and consider law when making regulations Crown / Minister / Government department
Browse 15 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.017

Application of section 17B to certain downstream gas pipelines.

s.017

Additional provisions relating to certain downstream gas pipelines.

s.017

Application of section 17D to certain offshore gas storage facilities.

s.017

Section 17GA: supplemental

Part IV — Abandonment of offshore installations

s.028

Restriction on abandonment

2 years imprisonment
  • Abandon offshore installation or pipeline without approved programme Any Person
s.034

Amendment of programmes

  • Keep decommissioning costs to a minimum when amending programs Any Person
s.036

Reduction of costs of carrying out programmes

  • Fail to comply with notice to reduce abandonment programme costs Any Person
s.038

Financial resources.

Unlimited fine
  • Fail to comply with or give false information under a financial notice Any Person
s.045

Abandoned wells

2 years imprisonment
  • Fail to comply with notice to plug or abandon well Any Person
Browse 15 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.038

Protection of funds set aside for the purposes of abandonment programme

s.038

Directions to provide information about protected assets

s.038

Charges in connection with exercise of functions under Part 4

Part V — Miscellaneous and General

Browse 9 other sections in this Part — procedural / definitional / commencement
s.047

Factors for the OGA to take into account

Schedules

Browse 2 other Schedules — structural / supplementary

Other sections — not classified into a Part

These sections exist in the Act but the contents-of-Parts walker did not place them under a Part. Likely amendments or sections inserted out of the original Part structure.

Browse 1 other unclassified section
s.table of derivations

Table of Derivations

Read the full Act on legislation.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)

Official guidance

Authoritative sources published by regulators or government explaining this legislation.

Enforcement and responsible bodies

The regulators that administer or enforce this legislation.

NSTA

Primary

North Sea Transition Authority

Licenses and regulates the UK oil and gas, offshore hydrogen, and carbon storage industries. Issues petroleum production licences and CO2 storage licences. …

OPRED

Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning

Regulates environmental aspects of offshore oil and gas, carbon storage, and gas unloading/storage. Issues environmental permits, approves oil spill response plans, and …

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Browse legislation

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Regulators

Learn more about the bodies that enforce this legislation.