Decommissioning—planning for decommissioning


Produced in partnership with Isla Stewart of Matheson
Practice notes

Decommissioning—planning for decommissioning


Produced in partnership with Isla Stewart of Matheson

Practice notes
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Offshore oil and gas Decommissioning programmes are, by their very nature, complex documents. Not only do they require the co-operation of all the departments within the parties submitting the decommissioning programme, they also require a close working relationship with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) (formerly known as the Oil & Gas Authority) and the buy-in of various stakeholders. DESNZ was established on 7 February 2023 and has taken over the energy portfolio of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which no longer exists. Any references to ‘BEIS’ within this practice note are references to historical functions of BEIS.

The rights and obligations relating to decommissioning programmes are contained in Part IV of the Petroleum Act 1998 (PA 1998). However, PA 1998 provides only the structure and mechanics and most of the practical information relating to decommissioning programmes is actually contained in the Guidance Notes on Decommissioning of Offshore Oil and Gas Installations and Pipelines under the Petroleum Act 1998 (the Guidance Notes). Notwithstanding

Isla Stewart
Isla Stewart

Matheson

Isla is an Associate in the Oil & Gas team. She qualified in 2010 after spending her traineeship with a leading international law firm. Isla then spent three years with the offshore oil and gas industry's leading trade association, Oil & Gas UK, as their in-house lawyer where she gained a strong background in working on complex industry issues across the UKCS.

Isla advises both operator and service sector clients on a range of aspects including asset acquisitions and disposals, joint venture matters and service sector contracts.

She has also been involved in a number of industry initiatives, most prominently the revision of the LOGIC general terms and conditions, the competing interests of the renewables industry offshore and the development of post-tax security for decommissioning security agreements.

Isla has also spent time on secondment to upstream oil and gas companies Talisman-Sinopec and Maersk Oil.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Decommissioning definition
What does Decommissioning mean?

The final phase in the life cycle of an energy installation covering all activities from shutdown and removal of equipment and material to environmental restoration of the site.

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