Developments in North Sea policy and their impact on the offshore oil and gas industry

Abstract

Until recently North Sea management was mainly based on national policy, in line with international agreements. European policy and legislation (for example, the EU Water Framework Directive that was adopted in 2000) seemed to be limited to land and inland waters. However, during the last years Europe has focused more on the marine waters.While these developments are in progress, it is difficult to get a clear view on relevant upcoming policies and its interaction with existing and other future policies. To get insight into the impact of the future European policy for the (Dutch) offshore oil and gas industry a quickscan has been performed on recent developments within (inter)national policy. Relevant Ministries have also been consulted. This report is the results of the quickscan. It provides a short summary of relevant policies and developments within these policies. Based on these developments, the impact for the offshore oil and gas industry is described, from the industry’s perspective