Oil and Pipelines Act 1985

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Oil and Pipelines Act 1985
Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Long title An Act to provide for the establishment and functions of a body corporate to be called the Oil and Pipelines Agency, for the vesting in that Agency of the property, rights and liabilities of the British National Oil Corporation and for the subsequent dissolution of that Corporation.
Citation 1985 c. 62
Introduced byThe Minister of State, Department of Energy (Alick Buchanan-Smith) (Second reading) 14 May 1985 (Commons)
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent 30 October 1985
Commencement 1 December 1985
Other legislation
Amends
Status: Current legislation
Text of the Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 (c. 62) 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.

Contents

Background

The government had established the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) in 1975 under the provisions of the Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975. BNOC, as constituted, was effectively two businesses: firstly for the production of oil and petroleum, and secondly for trading in oil. The Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 enabled the government to transfer the upstream oil exploration and production side of the BNOC's business into Britoil, a limited liability company. Britoil was floated on the stock market in November 1982 [1] and again in August 1985. [2] The downstream trading side of the business remained within BNOC. However, by 1983 with falling oil prices, participation and trading in the petroleum markets ceased to be profitable for BNOC. [3] The Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 provided the legal mechanism whereby BNOC was abolished and the Crown's interest in petroleum pipelines and storage installations was transferred into a new corporate body, the Oil and Pipelines Agency .

Oil and Pipelines Act 1985

The Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 received royal assent on 30 October 1985. Its long title is: ‘An Act to provide for the establishment and functions of a body corporate to be called the Oil and Pipelines Agency, for the vesting in that Agency of the property, rights and liabilities of the British National Oil Corporation and for the subsequent dissolution of that Corporation.’

Provisions

The Act comprises 8 Sections and 4 Schedules.

Consequential legislation

The provisions of the Oil and Pipelines Act 1985 came into force on 1 December 1985.

The appointed day for the transfer of assets from BNOC to the OPA was 1 December 1985 (Statutory Instrument S.I. 1985/1749)

The British National Oil Corporation was dissolved 27 March 1986 (S.I. 1986/585).

See also

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References

  1. "Britoil plc". The Times. 12 November 1982.
  2. "Britoil plc". The Times. 1 August 1985.
  3. More, Charles (2009). Charles (2009). Black Gold: Britain and Oil in the Twentieth Century. London: Continuum. pp. 1. London: Continuum. pp. 49, 184, 175. ISBN   9781847250438.