UK reopens consultation on offshore decommissioning guidance
OPRED and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are seeking further views on revised draft supplementary guidance for assessing derogations from offshore oil and gas removal under OSPAR Decision 98/3.
Event / data period: 2026-10-12
Published: · Updated:
The new consultation opened on 12 October after public feedback on the 2025 exercise. The revised draft clarifies the guidance scope and derogation categories, and separates operators’ responsibility to prepare a full-removal case from OPRED’s responsibility to assess it.
The draft adds detail on what operators should include and a new annex with OPRED’s assessment criteria and framework for deciding whether full removal is reasonably achievable. This is a consultation on draft guidance, not a final determination. Responses are due by 6 December 2026.
Data
Stated policy scope
Summarizes the source’s stated scope and the instrument’s policy status.
| Open consultation or call for input; proposals remain under consideration. |
Methodology
Qualitative summary; no quantitative measure or final decision absent from the source is added.
Updated:
Consultation timetable
Publication and response dates stated by the source.
| Publication date | 2026-10-12 |
| Response deadline | 2026-12-06 |
Methodology
Dates are transcribed from the source page; this table does not indicate a decision or effective date.
Updated:
Subjects and places
Subject proposals
- Oil and gasSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: oil and gaswww.gov.uk ↗
- Climate changeSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: Net Zerowww.gov.uk ↗
Geographic references
Only source-provided geographic references are shown. Opening an external map is optional. Optional story maps use OpenStreetMap. Opening a map sends your IP address and this site’s address to the map provider; location data remains readable as text without loading the map.
- United Kingdom · Place role: Coverage · Place type: Country or area · Location precision: RegionalEvidence
- Explicit preserved editorial country/region; no city or national centroid inferredwww.gov.uk ↗