Draft Oil and Gas Authority (Carbon Storage and Offshore Petroleum) (Specified Periods for Disclosure of Protected Material) Regulations 2026

Andrew Bowie Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 General Committees

[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.

[Andrew Bowie]

Don’t get used to it!

[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.