Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Decommissioning definition

What does Decommissioning mean? Decommissioning describes the end‑of‑life phase of an energy or industrial installation: the managed cessation of operations, making safe, plugging and abandonment (for wells), dismantling and removal of plant, equipment and materials, waste management, and environmental remediation and restoration of the site. It is a descriptive expression used across multiple regimes, but in key sectors it is governed by statute, licences and consents. In the UK, offshore oil and gas decommissioning is regulated under the Petroleum Act 1998 (requiring an approved decommissioning programme and imposing continuing liabilities). Offshore renewables and pipelines are covered by the Energy Act 2004. Nuclear decommissioning...

UK offshore oil and gas decommissioning: statutory framework and section 29 Petroleum Act notices for wells, installations and pipelines; NSTA/OPRED roles, financial assurance and CCUS Change of Use Relief

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Practice notes

The Petroleum Act 1998 (PA 1998) empowers the Secretary of State (SoS) to issue licences to companies, permitting them to explore, drill for and recover petroleum, under the oversight and direction of the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) (previously called the Oil & Gas Authority) (see Practice Notes: Oil & Gas—UKCS licensing regime and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) for further background). Decommissioning, by contrast, is overseen by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), working in consultation with the NSTA as necessary. Up to 14 July 2016, the government department in charge of energy policy was the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). From 14 July 2016, DECC was folded into the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). On 7 February 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was created and assumed the energy remit of the former BEIS, which no longer exists. Mentions of ‘BEIS’ and ‘DECC’ in this practice note refer to the former functions of those departments.

What are the legislative rules on oil and gas well decommissioning?

The Licence regulates the relationship between the Licensee and the...

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Isla Stewart

Matheson LLP

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...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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