Oil and Gas Laws

Oil and Gas Laws UK

Introduction

Law of United Kingdom, popularly known as English law or English legal system refer to the legal system of England and Wales. English laws provides base of common law and legal systems which is commonly used in Commonwealth Countries, Republic of Ireland and United States of America, except in the Louisiana. English legal system was exported to Commonwealth countries during the establishment of British Empire, and serves as the basic inspiration for the legal system of most of the previous colonies of British. Law of United Kingdom is formed by Queen in Parliaments through Bills, which then discussed and debate by House of Lords and House of Commons. Parliament in United Kingdom is widely acknowledged as the legislature, all Ordinance, Bills and Acts are “enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons", in assembled Parliament.

Oil and Gas are two elements that have almost the same demand as gold or silver, in today's world. Oil prices have surpassed those of Gold (once a standard for currency evaluation) and in some countries, Oil Barrels are now considered the new standard for evaluation against the US Dollar or Euro. However, every country of the world has its own laws pertaining to the acquirement, withholding and supply of oil and gas. There are certain regulations that are uniform to all nations whereas there are some laws that are internal and pertain to each country individually. This paper in accordance with English Law, will present an analysis of oil and gas law, which regulates this sector in UK.

Discussion

The Oil and gas in United Kingdom is regulated by Petroleum Act 1998, enacted by Queen's order after consultation with Lords and Commons and Temporal of the parliament. The Queen reserves the for exploration, boring and retrieving petroleum, which are covered under the Petroleum Act 1998 (Legislation, 2012). The act applies to petroleum which exist in the territory of the United Kingdom. In United Kingdom, the government reserves proprietary rights to the oil and gas reserves in the country. However, it has been observed that countries that allow private companies to carry out exploration, extraction and refining of the oil and gas products gets more better results, compare to the countries that keep proprietary rights to the state. This is because, private companies have all the means and resources to perform the task and can work on the contractual terms of the state (Legislation, 2012).

Oil and gas production licences are used by the government of United Kingdom to make a contract effective legally. Though, Petroleum Act 1998 is vague and covers different aspects related to exploration, boring and obtaining the petroleum products the scope of the following discussion will further be trimmed to petroleum licence in three steps. Brief meaning of the different legal terms will also be set out which are being dealt in this discussion. The paper will then perform an examination in ...