§ Lady Olga MaitlandTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the current position of the 17th round of offshore petroleum licensing. [9728]
§ Mr. PageI am pleased to announce that the Petroleum (Production) (Seaward Areas) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 came into force on 16 December 1996. These regulations vary the terms and conditions of petroleum licences to reflect the nature of the acreage to be awarded in the 17th round.
Following the entry into force of the regulations, the formal notice offering tranches within the UKCS for licence in the 17th round of offshore licensing will soon be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This will set out the detailed terms of the round, including the format of applications, the information required with the application, the criteria to be used in assessing applications and the date by when applications must be received which will be no earlier than 90 days after the notice appears.
In order to provide as much flexibility to applicants as possible, applications may be made from 6 January 1997 until the closing date. No decisions about licence awards will be taken until after the closing date for applications and after all applications have been thoroughly assessed.