These requirements apply to all business activities in this division.
licensing
Uk
Ongoing
Petroleum production licence (search, bore and get petroleum)
Enforced by:
NORTH_SEA_TRANSITION_AUTHORITY
Petroleum Act 1998; Energy Act 2016
Rights to the UK's petroleum are vested in the Crown; a licence under s3 of the Petroleum Act 1998 is required to search and bore for and get petroleum, which the Act defines to include natural gas — so the licence regime applies to both crude oil (06.10) and natural gas (06.20). Administered by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA, formerly the Oil and Gas Authority, established under the Energy Act 2016), with a statutory duty on licensees to support the maximising of economic recovery. No canonical regulator code exists for the NSTA in the graph. Devolved: offshore licensing is NSTA UK-wide; onshore licensing is devolved to the Scottish Ministers (Scotland Act 2016) and Welsh Ministers (Wales Act 2017), with NSTA retaining England.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 — general duties
Enforced by:
HSE
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
General duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees and others affected by the undertaking. The cornerstone duty for a high-hazard extraction industry — HSE is the lead enforcing authority for onshore and offshore oil and gas operations.
insurance
Great_Britain
Annual
Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Enforced by:
HSE
Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969
Compulsory for any business employing at least one person.
registration
Uk
Annual
UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018
Enforced by:
ICO
Data Protection Act 2018; UK GDPR (retained EU law)
Applies to any business processing personal data — staff, contractors, customers, suppliers. ICO data protection fee payable unless specifically exempt.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Equality Act 2010 — protected characteristics
Enforced by:
EHRC
Equality Act 2010
No discrimination, harassment or victimisation in employment or in services across the nine protected characteristics.
compliance
England_Wales
Ongoing
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Enforced by:
LOCAL_FIRE_AUTHORITY
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The responsible person must carry out and maintain a fire risk assessment for non-process workplace premises (offices, stores, onshore site buildings). High-hazard process fire/explosion risk is regulated primarily through DSEAR and — offshore — the safety-case regime rather than the Fire Safety Order. Devolved variants: Fire (Scotland) Act 2005; Fire and Rescue Services (NI) Order 2006.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)
Enforced by:
HSE
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
Assess and control exposure to hazardous substances inherent to extraction — hydrogen sulphide (sour gas/oil), benzene, mercury, naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in scale and produced water, and drilling chemicals. Health surveillance and exposure monitoring are routine.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR)
Enforced by:
HSE
Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002
Genuinely division-wide: every well, separator, gas-processing and hydrocarbon-storage operation handles flammable dangerous substances and creates potentially explosive atmospheres. Duties to assess fire/explosion risk, eliminate or reduce it, classify hazardous-area zones and provide ATEX-compliant equipment. Devolved: DSEAR (NI) 2003.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)
Enforced by:
HSE
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
Drilling rigs, wellheads, pumps, separators, compressors and pressure systems must be suitable, maintained, inspected and safe to use. Sits alongside the lifting-operations and pressure-systems duties central to extraction operations.
compliance
Great_Britain
Ongoing
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
Enforced by:
HSE
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
Avoid, assess and reduce the risk of injury from manual handling — drill pipe and tubular handling, valves, sampling and maintenance lifting across the wellsite or installation.
registration
Uk
Annual
Upstream petroleum taxation (ring-fence corporation tax)
Enforced by:
HMRC
Oil Taxation Act 1975
Companies extracting UK and UK Continental Shelf oil and gas are taxed on ring-fenced upstream profits — ring-fence corporation tax plus the supplementary charge and the temporary Energy Profits Levy. Petroleum revenue tax under the Oil Taxation Act 1975 still defines the ring-fence framework but its rate has been set to 0% since 1 January 2016, so it raises nothing on current production. Applies to all licensed extraction, hence division-wide.