The U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will loosen its regulatory grip on field development and production in measures to be implemented during the next 6 months.
Operators who show good field management practices will have greater freedom to exploit fields to suit their commercial interests and the national interest, said Energy Minister Tim Eggar.
"The overall effect will be to bring about a more streamlined system for approving field developments," he said.
Here are the main measures:
- DTI resources will be concentrated on developments likely to yield the greatest economic benefit, while lesser prospects will receive less rigorous assessment.
- Operators will take full responsibility for field development, while DTI, s systematic monitoring will be reduced to selective investigation of problems and random auditing.
- DTI will use more company generated data to assess proposals and may place officials on company project teams.
- Officials will have greater authority to agree to technical proposals. So operators will know DTI's position faster.
- Less information will be required from operators.
- Development consents will be tailored to the field concerned, with longer consent periods and wider production limits for some.
- Guidelines will be drawn up setting out the purpose of the new regulations and how they will be operated.
The measures stem from a DTI report that said the present level of intervention in development and production, although similar to that in other countries, was high in relation to other industrial sectors.
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