Oil and Gas: fees and charges
Regulations and guidance on fees and charging for environmental and other regulatory functions for offshore oil and gas exploration and production, offshore gas unloading and storage and offshore carbon dioxide storage activities.
Charging for environmental and other regulatory functions
The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) carries out environmental and other regulatory functions in relation to the offshore oil and gas industry, and the offshore gas and carbon dioxide storage industries.
The powers to charge fees are contained in a mixture of charging schemes made under:
- relevant legislation (e.g. the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002 and the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005);
- provisions in activity-specific legislation (e.g. for EIA-related activities under the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020); or
- provisions in fees-specific legislation (e.g. for Oil Pollution Emergency Plans (OPEPs) under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015).
The main fees-specific legislation, the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015 (the 鈥�2015 Regulations鈥�), have been amended several times, most recently in June 2022.
The time taken to undertake chargeable functions is recorded, and the fees are calculated by reference to 2 hourly rates 鈥� one rate for the environmental specialist staff and one rate for the non-specialist staff. Environmental specialists are technical staff who carry out the relevant functions of the Secretary of State and non-specialists are administrative staff.
The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022
The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022 came into force on 17 June 2022 and amend the fee charging provisions of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001, the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015 and the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020. These 2022 Regulations make changes to fees under:
- The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention Regulations 1998
- The Offshore Petroleum Activities (conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001
- Part 4A of the Energy Act 2008 (consents to locate)
- Part 4 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (marine licensing)
- The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations 2014
- The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015
- The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015
- Various EU Fluorinated Gas Regulations (which are now retained EU law) and the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015
- Regulation 55 of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
To coincide with these amended fee arrangements, the department has revised the existing charging schemes for the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012, the Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013 and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020, to align the charges relating to those schemes with the amended charges detailed in the new Regulations. These revised charging schemes came into effect on 17 June 2022.
Regulations
- Please see previous fee Regulations here
Guidance
Charging schemes
The latest versions of the charging schemes for the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012 and the Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013 and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 can be found using the following links:
Non-Statutory Post Implementation Review of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015
Updates to this page
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Page updated to remove previous fee charging regulations, as these will now be located on the Oil and gas: previous fee charging regulations page - please see the link within the Regulations sub-section of "The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022" section of the page
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Updated 'Cost Recovery for offshore functions - A guide' document uploaded
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Post Implementation Review of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015 added.
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Updates to body of text, Charging Schemes and Regulations to June 2022
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Publication of the latest versions of the charging schemes.
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Updated Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 Charging Scheme - January 2021
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Publication of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 Charging Scheme and an updated Cost Recovery for offshore functions - A guide
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New fees regulation and charging schemes uploaded.
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Added 'The Oil and Gas Authority (Levy) and Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2019' section, updated cost recovery guidance and updated charging schemes added.
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First published.