North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea.
In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has devolved its legislative power to the national legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while reserved matters and excepted matters are the areas where the UK Parliament retains exclusive power to legislate.
United Kingdom enterprise law concerns the ownership and regulation of organisations producing goods and services in the UK, European and international economy. Private enterprises are usually incorporated under the Companies Act 2006, regulated by company law, competition law, and insolvency law, while almost one third of the workforce and half of the UK economy is in enterprises subject to special regulation. Enterprise law mediates the rights and duties of investors, workers, consumers and the public to ensure efficient production, and deliver services that UK and international law sees as universal human rights. Labour, company, competition and insolvency law create general rights for stakeholders, and set a basic framework for enterprise governance, but rules of governance, competition and insolvency are altered in specific enterprises to uphold the public interest, as well as civil and social rights. Universities and schools have traditionally been publicly established, and socially regulated, to ensure universal education. The National Health Service was set up in 1946 to provide everyone with free health care, regardless of class or income, paid for by progressive taxation. The UK government controls monetary policy and regulates private banking through the publicly owned Bank of England, to complement its fiscal policy. Taxation and spending composes nearly half of total economic activity, but this has diminished since 1979.
English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal system established by William the Conqueror after 1066, but is now mostly registered and sold on the real estate market. The modern law's sources derive from the old courts of common law and equity, and legislation such as the Law of Property Act 1925, the Settled Land Act 1925, the Land Charges Act 1972, the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and the Land Registration Act 2002. At its core, English land law involves the acquisition, content and priority of rights and obligations among people with interests in land. Having a property right in land, as opposed to a contractual or some other personal right, matters because it creates priority over other people's claims, particularly if the land is sold on, the possessor goes insolvent, or when claiming various remedies, like specific performance, in court.
The Electricity Act 1989 provided for the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Great Britain, by replacing the Central Electricity Generating Board in England and Wales and by restructuring the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board. The Act also established a licensing regime and a regulator for the industry called the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER), which has since become the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM).
The Gas Act 1986 created the framework for privatisation of the gas supply industry in Great Britain. This legislation would be replacing the British Gas Corporation with British Gas plc. The Act also established a licensing regime, a Gas Consumers’ Council, and a regulator for the industry called the Office of Gas Supply (OFGAS).
The Petroleum Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which consolidated arrangements for the licensing, operation and abandonment of offshore installations and pipelines. As a consolidation Act, it did not change the substantive law, although certain Acts were amended and repealed.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), known as the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) until March 2022, is a private company limited by shares wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. It is responsible for maximising the economic recovery of oil from the North Sea. It is empowered to license and regulate activity in relation to oil and gas in the United Kingdom, including oil and gas exploration, carbon capture and storage, and offshore gas storage.
The Oil Taxation Act 1975 is a UK Act of Parliament relevant for UK enterprise law that was intended to ensure that oil and gas extraction companies operating in British territories and waters paid their fair share of tax. Over many years of amendments it was largely eliminated over 2015 and 2016, as the Petroleum Revenue Tax was cut to zero.
Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd [2010] UKSC 35 is a UK enterprise law case, concerning oil and gas. It held a landowner also owned the strata and minerals, unless they conveyed it, in common law or statute, to someone else, so an oil company making wells 800 to 2,900 feet below the surface was trespass, and had to pay compulsory purchase compensation under the Mines Act 1966 s 8(2).
The Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which started the process of privatisation of the oil and gas industries in the UK. It empowered the government to float off and sell shares in Britoil the upstream production side of the British National Oil Corporation. It ended the British Gas Corporation’s monopoly on the transportation and supply of gas, opening up the gas market to other gas suppliers. The Act made miscellaneous provisions relating to the oil and gas industries concerning Petroleum Licences and Offshore Installations.
The Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which addressed the licensing, ownership, exploitation, production, transportation, processing and refining of petroleum and petroleum products in the UK. Enacted in 1975 when the UK’s first North Sea oil was produced, the act aimed to provide greater public control of the oil industry. The act established the British National Oil Corporation and a National Oil Account; modified the conditions of petroleum licences; controlled the construction and use of underground pipelines; and controlled the development of oil refineries.
The Petroleum Act 1987 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which updates the arrangements for regulating offshore installations and their operation. In particular it makes provisions for the licensing and the safe and orderly abandonment of installations and submarine pipelines.
The Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which clarified the ownership of underground petroleum, vesting it in the Crown. It made provision for searching and boring for and getting (producing) petroleum and natural gas, under appropriate licenses.
The Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established the Oil and Pipelines Agency to buy, sell or deal in petroleum and to manage on behalf of the Crown petroleum pipelines and storage installations. The act abolished the British National Oil Corporation and transferred its assets to the Agency.
The Energy Act 1976 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which empowered the Secretary of State to control the production, supply, acquisition and use of fuels and electricity, and included measures for the conservation of fuels.
The Petroleum Royalties (Relief) and Continental Shelf Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished petroleum royalties for gas fields in the southern basin of the North Sea and onshore, and enacted an agreement with the Republic of Ireland on the extent of the continental shelf.
The Petroleum Royalties (Relief) Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which exempted certain petroleum licence holders of new offshore oil and gas fields from the payment of petroleum royalties or the delivery of petroleum.
The Offshore Petroleum Development (Scotland) Act 1975 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which facilitated the onshore construction of offshore oil platforms for the UK Continental Shelf. Its provisions permitted the acquisition of land; the regulation of sea-based operations; the granting of licences for construction; the reinstatement of land; and financial provisions.
The Petroleum Act1926 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amends and extends the Petroleum Acts 1871 and 1879.
