Explanatory note

These Regulations make provision for the Secretary of State to charge a fee when a person responsible for an offshore installation or submarine pipeline submits an abandonment programme or a proposal to revise an abandonment programme.

These Regulations do not apply in respect of a fee payable for carbon capture and storage offshore installations and submarine pipelines (regulation 2).

Sections 29(5) and 34(4) of the Petroleum Act 1998 requires that a fee shall be payable at the same time as submission of an abandonment programme or notice of a proposal to revise an abandonment programme. In order for the Secretary of State to determine the fee payable, a person shall first submit a draft abandonment programme or draft proposal to revise an abandonment programme containing sufficient information to enable the Secretary of State to make that determination (regulation 3).

Regulation 4 sets out the methodology for setting the fee. The fee is based on the daily rate multiplied by an estimate of the number of officers and an estimate of the number of days required to consider an abandonment programme or a proposal to revise an abandonment programme.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on http://www.legislation.gov.uk.