This dynamic link details Crown Estate Agreements including Leases, Licences, Agreements for Lease and Search Areas, overlaying UKCS Petroleum Licensing Blocks.
The North Sea is an important resource for energy security and net zero delivery, and it is vital that sectors collaborate to ensure those systems can co-exist.
The link assists petroleum licence holders to identify any area interactions that their petroleum licences have with other users of the sea that have been granted rights by The Crown Estate or Crown Estate Scotland.
Petroleum licence holders should identify any blocks where they hold a licence or plan to gain a licence to check whether there may be potential for interaction or overlaps with another rights holder. This could involve a physical overlap between a petroleum licence and a Crown Estate agreement or it could be a potential interaction if the areas are adjoining or in close proximity to each other (e.g. a helicopter zone may overlap with a Crown Estate lease).
Petroleum licence holders are strongly advised to contact the other rights holder(s) at the earliest opportunity to discuss and resolve any potential conflicts. In addition to this, if the licence sits within or partially within the 12 nautical mile territorial limit, licence holders must also contact The Crown Estate or Crown Estate Scotland in order to be granted an agreement for seabed rights.
Further details are available on The Crown Estate website and Crown Estate Scotland website.
Petroleum licence holders can contact The Crown Estate at oilandgasenquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk or on 020 7851 5343 with general or specific questions.
Crown Estate Scotland can be contacted at MarineTeam@crownestatescotland.com
NSTA co-location clause
Following discussions with our partners in The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland, the NSTA has introduced a new clause for overlapping oil and gas licences and wind leases for the first time in the 33rd oil and gas licensing round. This will be the main commercial mechanism for these licences to resolving spatial overlaps and to support co-existence of these important industries.
Oil and Gas Clause in Crown Estate leases
Under the terms of Crown Estate offshore renewable leases and agreements for lease, The Crown Estate may determine (i.e. terminate) the lease or agreement for lease in whole or part, following a request from the Secretary of State, for the purposes of allowing an oil or gas development to proceed. This is known as the “oil and gas clause”.
Where it emerges that the plans of an oil or gas developer and those of an offshore renewables developer may be in conflict, the parties are expected to make every reasonable effort to reach a commercial agreement at the earliest stage. The Secretary of State has made clear that he will only request that The Crown Estate determine a lease or agreement for lease after appropriate compensation has been paid by an oil or gas developer to the affected offshore renewable developer(s), or after a binding agreement has been entered with an oil or gas developer to pay such compensation.
The Secretary of State made a Written Ministerial Statement in May 2024, outlining the approach to overlaps between oil and gas licences and offshore wind leases.
Where the oil or gas developer and the offshore renewables developer are unable to reach a commercial agreement on compensation and the determination of the lease or agreement for lease is necessary for the oil or gas development to go ahead, the oil or gas developer can make an application to the Secretary of State to appoint an independent valuer to assess the appropriate level of compensation. View Oil and gas clause in Crown Estate leases (PDF, 1.7MB, 12 pages) for guidance on the procedure.