Guidance

Oil and Gas: fees and charges

Regulations and guidance on fees and charging for environmental and other regulatory functions for offshore oil and gas exploration and production, offshore gas unloading and storage and offshore carbon dioxide storage activities.

From:
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Published
12 October 2018
Last updated
29 July 20252026 — See all updates

Charging for environmental and other regulatory functions

The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) carries out environmental and other regulatory functions in relation to the offshore oil and gas industry, and the offshore gas and carbon dioxide storage industries.

The powers to charge fees are contained in a mixture of charging schemes made under:

  • relevant legislation (e.g. the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002 and the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005);
  • provisions in activity-specific legislation (e.g. for for EIA-related activities under the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020); or
  • provisions in fees-specific legislation (e.g. for Oil Pollution Emergency Plans (OPEPs) under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015).

The main fees-specific legislation, the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015 (the ‘2015 Regulations’), have been amended several times, most recently on 27 July 2025.2026.

The time taken to undertake chargeable functions is recorded, and the fees are calculated by reference to two hourly rates – one rate for the environmental specialist staff and one rate for the non-specialist staff. Environmental specialists are technical staff who carry out the relevant functions of the Secretary of State and non-specialists are administrative staff.staff

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 20252026

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 20252026 came into force on 27 July 20252026 and amend the fee charging provisions of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001, the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015 and the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020. These 20252026 Regulations make changes to fees under:

  • The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention Regulations 1998
  • The Offshore Petroleum Activities (conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001
  • Part 4A of the Energy Act 2008 (consents to locate)
  • Part 4 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (marine licensing)
  • The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations 2014
  • The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015
  • The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015
  • Various EU Fluorinated Gas Regulations (which are now retained EU law) and the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015
  • Regulation 55 of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.2017

To coincide with these amended fee arrangements, the department has revised the existing charging schemes for the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012, the Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013 and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020, to align the charges relating to those schemes with the amended charges detailed in the new Regulations. These revised charging schemes came into effect on 27 July 2025.2026.

Regulations

Guidance

Charging schemes

The latest versions of the charging schemes, which were updated on 27 July 2025,2026, for the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012 and the Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013 and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 can be found using the following links:

Non-Statutory Post Implementation Review of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provisions) Regulations 2015

Updates to this page

Published 12 October 2018
Last updated 29 July 20252026 href="#full-history">+— show Show all updates

  2. Minor text changes have been made to the "Charging for environmental and other regulatory functions" section. "The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022" section has been moved to the Oil and gas: previous fee charging regulations page. "The Pollution Prevention and Control (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2025 " section has been added. The "Cost Recovery for offshore functions - A guide" document has been updated. Minor text changes have been made to the wording in the "Charging schemes" section, and all documents within this section have been updated.

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