Consultation outcome: The proposed introduction of the Offshore Environmental Civil Sanctions Regulations 2018

We’re seeking stakeholders’ views on proposals to introduce powers, via The Offshore Environmental Civil Sanctions Regulations 2018, to enable the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment & Decommissioning (OPRED) to impose civil sanctions in respect of breaches of some existing offshore oil and gas environmental regulations, which presently amount to criminal offences.

The proposed sanctions would apply to offshore oil and gas operators engaged in hydrocarbon-related activities (i.e. oil and gas operations, gas unloading and storage operations and carbon dioxide storage operations) on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf.