---

North Sea: Oil Rigs

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. I will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

The Department requires that all applications to leave part or all of an installation or pipeline in place at the time of decommissioning are supported by a detailed environmental impact assessment. The assessment must comply with international obligations, is reviewed by Departmental staff and relevant stakeholders, including environmental bodies and NGOs, and must be accepted by the Department before it approves the proposed operations. Details of projects under consideration can be found on our web page titled “Oil and gas: decommissioning of offshore installations and pipelines” on the gov.uk website.