Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Upstream definition

What does Upstream mean? In legal practice, “upstream” describes exploration and production (E&P) activities: acquiring rights to search for petroleum, conducting seismic and appraisal, drilling and field development, and producing hydrocarbons to the point of export or entry into midstream infrastructure. It is a widely used commercial and regulatory descriptor rather than a defined statutory term, appearing across contracts, regulatory guidance and transaction documents. Typical upstream documents include petroleum licences and leases, assignments and farm-out agreements, joint operating agreements (JOAs), drilling and oilfield services contracts, security and project finance instruments, and decommissioning arrangements. Key legal issues include title to petroleum in situ and on production,...

UKCS Third-Party Access to Upstream Oil and Gas Infrastructure: NSTA Guidance, Energy Act 2011 Determinations, ICoP Process and Competition Law

Published by a LexisNexis Energy expert

Practice notes

Background

The united kingdom continental shelf (UKCS) comprises a intricate web of infrastructure evolved over many decades, much of it tailored to the requirements of individual fields, alongside a series of trunk lines. Over time, spare capacity has progressively appeared in pipelines and in processing plant on platforms. At the same time, as a mature basin, the UKCS is seeing smaller discoveries, and few fields remain large enough to justify building wholly new infrastructure. As a result, most new projects need to access third-party systems to reach the shore. In some situations, this involves tapping several separate links along an export route. On the surface, this promises a strong opportunity for both new field owners and infrastructure proprietors. Yet difficulties arise. For many new fields, options for export routing are limited, meaning normal competitive market dynamics may not function effectively. In some cases, the infrastructure may amount to an essential facility under competition law, such that denying access on fair, non-discriminatory terms would amount to an abuse of a dominant position (see Competition issues below)...

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Judith Aldersey Williams

Judith Aldersey-Williams has 25 years' experience as a commercial lawyer in London and Aberdeen. She advises energy industry clients in the UK and internationally on commercial contracts, including joint operating agreements, major infrastructure projects, gas sales agreements, supply and service contracts and has worked on projects from Angola to Trinidad (she's still hoping for a project in Zambia). She also advises on regulatory issues and competition/antitrust matters. She has worked closely with Oil & Gas UK on a variety of industry initiatives including the industry standard Decommissioning Security Agreement (DSA) and Joint Operating Agreement. Her career highpoints have been advising Oil & Gas UK in its negotiations with the UK Government over the introduction of ground-breaking contracts to guarantee tax relief for decommissioning and advising the Subsea Well Response Project, a group of nine multinational oil companies, on contracts for the...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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