Draft Oil and Gas Authority (Carbon Storage and Offshore Petroleum) (Specified Periods for Disclosure of Protected Material) Regulations 2026
(1 day, 7 hours ago)
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The Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Oil and Gas Authority (Carbon Storage and Offshore Petroleum) (Specified Periods for Disclosure of Protected Material) Regulations 2026.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Barker. I apologise in advance to the Committee for my voice; I am full of the joys of the season, which are going around this place at the moment. I hope we get through this in one go.
The draft regulations were laid before the House on 24 November under the affirmative process. Like so much of what I seem to bring to these Committees, the draft regulations may appear technical, but they are hugely important. They are essential to the effective sharing of data within UK carbon capture, usage and storage and the offshore petroleum industries—data that underpins collaboration, transparency and innovation, all of which are critical to advancing our energy security. The data-sharing rules set out by the regulations will support the effective use of the UK’s carbon storage capacity and the contribution that it can make to delivering the Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and accelerate our journey to net zero.
Carbon capture, usage and storage is a set of emissions reduction technologies designed to prevent carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide captured from a range of sources, including power generation and industrial processes, will be transported for permanent storage offshore, deep underground, rather than being emitted into the atmosphere. Complementing our transition to home-grown clean energy, not only is CCUS essential to meeting our climate commitments, but it will safeguard our energy security and decarbonise power and industry in a way that drives economic growth.
The Oil and Gas Authority, now operating under the business name of the North Sea Transition Authority, regulates the secure permitting of carbon dioxide stores on the UK continental shelf. That means that anyone who wishes to explore for, or use, a geological feature for the long-term storage of carbon dioxide on the continental shelf must hold a carbon storage licence issued by the NSTA.
As set out in the Energy Act 2023, carbon storage licensees are responsible for complying with various obligations, including the reporting to the NSTA of information and samples obtained through the conduct of licensee activities. In our view, the wealth of data that carbon storage licensees gather during exploration or storage activities is a national resource, and its publication will accelerate the deployment of CCUS in the UK. That is why we introduced the Oil and Gas Authority (Carbon Storage) (Retention of Information and Samples) Regulations 2025, another thrilling statutory instrument, which came into force in May. Those regulations specify the types of information and samples that carbon storage licensees must retain and the periods for which they must be retained. These requirements ensure the preservation of valuable data on carbon storage activities on the continental shelf.
The draft regulations set out when the NSTA can publicly disclose carbon storage information and samples provided to it by carbon storage licensees, and which types of information and samples may be so disclosed. They will also amend when the NSTA can publicly disclose information on the drilling or operation of wells under offshore petroleum licences; the timeframe for that was set out in the Oil and Gas Authority (Offshore Petroleum) (Disclosure of Protected Material after Specified Period) Regulations 2018. This amendment to the 2018 regulations will bring the NSTA disclosure powers across CCUS and offshore petroleum into alignment.
Information and samples play a significant role in the UK carbon dioxide storage industry. Access to high-quality data for the NSTA, industry, academics and the public will help to deliver efficient ways to utilise the UK’s storage potential. The carbon storage information and samples published will support the sharing of knowledge and lessons learned, including best practices and innovation, ultimately leading to cost reductions and the overall advancement of the sector. That includes accelerating the North sea’s energy transition. The NSTA helps to drive that transition by realising the significant potential of the UK continental shelf as a critical energy and carbon abatement resource. The draft regulations will further provide opportunities for the industries based offshore, with very significant potential for storing carbon dioxide in the depleted oil and gas fields and other geological formations on the UK continental shelf.
The NSTA consulted on the carbon storage and the offshore petroleum aspects of the regulations—under the previous Government, I might say. The consultation on the amendment to well data confidentiality closed in 2022; a response was published in 2023. The consultation on the proposed regulations for the disclosure of carbon storage information closed in April 2024; a response was published in October 2025. Feedback from both was positive and has been carefully considered to ensure that the draft regulations reflect industry needs and best practice.
CCUS is critical to the UK’s future energy security and to our industrial ambitions. The draft regulations may be technical, but they are imperative and will enable a wealth of data to be made accessible, which will ultimately support the advancement of the CCUS industry and the future of industries on the UK continental shelf. I commend them to the Committee.
Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this morning, Ms Barker. The draft Oil and Gas Authority (Carbon Storage and Offshore Petroleum) Regulations will make some key amendments to the regulations pertaining to the CCUS and oil and gas sectors with regard to the publication of data connected to the wells in which they are operating, as the Minister has set out. That information, which includes geological assessments, rock and liquid samples and drilling data, is collected by the NSTA—or the OGA, as it remains in law for now—for publication to support research activities, wider industry and future licence applications.
The changes made in the draft regulations set out, for CCUS, how long such data must remain confidential after being collected, and specifically when different data is published, in order to protect the commercial interests of sector operators. This brings CCUS in line with existing regulations in the oil and gas industry. There are changes for the oil and gas sector, too, in particular in respect of how petroleum well information is disclosed. At present, the two-year confidentiality period takes effect once the NSTA receives the information; under the draft regulations, the clock will start from the reporting deadline. All of that was ably set out by the Minister.
Although the changes will bring consistency across the sector, questions remain. Will the Minister provide further details on enforcement when reporting deadlines are missed? Are we to expect a form of sanctions to be imposed? If so, when will details of those sanctions be released? There is also the question of how any operators will be affected whose reporting deadline for wells has already passed. Will they be given a new one and expected to comply by the new deadline? We recognise that the face of the North sea oil and gas industry is changing, with a significant amount of decommissioning work taking place now and over the coming years. Does the Minister think that the introduction of hard deadlines will add further administrative burden to operations? Have the Government made any assessment of the impact on decommissioning?
The North sea energy industry is already facing a multitude of challenges emanating from Government policy, which is having a knock-on effect on wider investment in the sector. I would be grateful if the Minister could elaborate on whether any assessment has been made of how these changes might affect investor confidence in the sector, and what discussions about them have been had with industry representatives.
I echo the Minister’s comments about the NSTA, and particularly its chief executive officer Stuart Payne. They are doing an incredibly important job in managing the North sea basin. Notwithstanding the differences in how we think the North sea should be managed, the work of people in the NSTA should be recognised more than it is. They are undertaking vital work, and as a result of these changes the burden on them will be greater still.
Notwithstanding my questions, to which of course we would like answers, the Opposition think that the draft regulations are a very sensible move, coming as they do from that almighty and indeed seminal piece of work, the Energy Act 2023. I therefore see no reason why we should object to them or stand in their way. I do not intend to detain the Committee any longer.
Michael Shanks
It is always a pleasure to end the year on a high with the shadow Minister agreeing with the Government. I wish it happened more often.
Michael Shanks
I think the shadow Minister was actually congratulating his own work when he was in my role several years ago, but it is a treat nevertheless. I thank him for his support and echo his comments about the NSTA; its primary role is that of a regulator, but it also does a phenomenal amount of work to bring the industry together to look at how it improves on its practices. I also echo his thanks to Stuart Payne and the team for their work.
I turn to the shadow Minister’s questions. First, our purpose is not just to bring both sets of regulations into alignment; it is also important to recognise that a lot of the decommissioning work is moving further and further to the right. It will be a huge economic opportunity for us if we can ensure that that work happens. This is partly about making sure that the regulations are aligned, but it is also about ensuring that action can be taken against those who are not meeting the deadlines. Beyond the draft regulations, wider work is going on to ensure that we are enforcing our expectation of decommissioning work being concluded, not least because the public will end up on the hook for many of the costs if that work is not done.
On the question about the administrative burden, we look at these issues in the round, but there were consultations with the industry in 2023 and 2024 and no objections were raised by industry bodies. I think we had 11 responses, including three from industry representative bodies and five from individual companies, and overall the consultation received a positive response, so our sense is that the draft regulations will be warmly welcomed.
On the specific question of enforcement, one of the issues that we addressed in the North sea plan was how we will look at the enforcement powers of the NSTA. We will say more about that when we introduce legislation in due course.
I welcome the support for these measures, and indeed the work of the previous Government on setting up the landscape for carbon capture and storage. It is a huge opportunity for our country, and we look forward to moving it forward.
Question put and agreed to.