Energy - Oil & Gas

Recent Articles

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  26.05.2023

  United Kingdom

  Hy­dro­gen pro­duc­tion – draft con­tract pub­lished

  On 19 May 2023, the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (“DESNZ”) published the draft full-form front end agreement (the “Front End Agreement”) and standard terms and conditions (the “Standard Terms and Conditions”) for the Low Carbon Hydrogen Agreement (together the “LCHA”), which serves as the primary contract between the hydrogen producers and LCCC, the government-owned counterparty.The contract structure will mirror that of the AR4 CfD and the CCUS programme contracts (i.e. the DPA), with the Front-End Agreement containing project-specific...

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  25.05.2023

  International

  North Sea Strikes and Force Ma­jeure

  The latest in a series of strikes by oil & gas workers in the North Sea continues to test the operation and efficacy of force majeure (“FM”) provisions in oil and gas industry contracts.There is no single “industry standard” FM clause, and so each contractual FM clause must be carefully considered in its contractual context to determine how it operates.With many North Sea oil and gas industry contracts based on industry model forms, such as LOGIC and OEUK (formerly OGUK), we consider below the impact of the recent (and proposed) North Sea strike actions.  A review...

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  19.05.2023

  England and Wales

  High Court grants fi­nal in­junc­tion re­strict­ing dis­rupt­ive en­vir­on­ment­al protest ac­tions for five years

  On 3 May 2023 the High Court handed down the judgment of Mr Justice Morris in the case of Transport for London v Persons Unknown. This judgment demonstrates that injunctions of this nature, if properly formulated and supported by evidence, can be granted both on an interim and final basis and against both named and unnamed defendants subject to complying with strict requirements for alternative service.The Claim The judgment concerned an application by Transport for London (“TfL”) for a final injunction in claims initially raised by TfL in October and November 2021 for trespass, public...

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  09.05.2023

  International

  Oil & Gas and Geo­therm­al: like steam, the oil & gas in­dustry could rise to the oc­ca­sion

  With a significant number of industry conferences targeting geothermal being held around the world this year, the oil & gas industry is starting to recognise the potential of geothermal as an energy source where the technical, commercial, financial and legal challenges are very similar to (and the associated experiences are readily transferrable from) oil & gas projects.As has been seen with wind and solar (and now hydrogen and carbon capture), the decades of experience in engineering and project management of oil & gas companies is showing its worth in the transition to clean energy...

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  28.04.2023

  United Kingdom

  North Sea Trans­ition Au­thor­ity – Car­bon stor­age data powers con­sulta­tion re­sponse

  The North Sea Transition Authority (“NSTA”) has published a response to its consultation on new carbon storage data powers. The consultation, which ran from 18 January 2023 until 1 March 2023, sought views on whether information and sample retention and reporting requirements should exist for licensees of carbon dioxide appraisal and storage licences (“CS Licences”). The NSTA already has similar data retention, reporting and disclosure powers in place for petroleum licensees.The NSTA received 11 responses to its consultation, which it says were overwhelmingly supportive...

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  27.04.2023

  United Kingdom

  Green­peace and Up­lift gran­ted per­mis­sion to pro­ceed with ju­di­cial re­view against the latest off­shore oil and gas li­cens­ing round

  IntroductionEnvironmental campaign groups such as Greenpeace and Uplift are increasingly using court proceedings to seek to advance their arguments, often by means of judicial review applications challenging the approach taken by government or regulators in considering environmental issues in licensing or approval processes. In a high profile example in the oil and gas industry, Greenpeace and Uplift have been given permission to bring judicial review proceedings in connection with the decision to commence the 33rd oil and gas licensing round in October 2022 – the first licensing round...

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