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Petroleum Licensing in Northern Ireland

Any person who wants to explore for, drill for or extract oil or gas in Northern Ireland must hold a Petroleum Licence granted by DETI under the Petroleum (Production) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964. The application and licensing process is underpinned by regulations which, among other things, set out the arrangements for making and determining applications, permissible terms and conditions for granting a Petroleum Licence and the model clauses which may be incorporated in a Petroleum Licence.

On 29th June 2010 the Department published a Notice (2010/C169/4) in the Official Journal of the European Union announcing the availability of all of onshore Northern Ireland for Petroleum Licence applications and inviting applications by 27th August 2010.

The Application form, Guidance for applicants and other relevant information is set out below.

Application form and Guidance for applicants

Guidance for Applicants for Petroleum Licences

Application Form for Petroleum Licence

MS Word Format (290KB)

PDF Format (75KB)

Appendix A - Financial Capacity

MS Word Format (238KB)

PDF Format (94KB)

Appendix B - Technical Capacity

MS Word Format (293KB)

PDF Format (78KB)

Appendix C - Environmental Awareness

MS Word Format (29KB)

PDF Format (33KB)

Any questions raised by applicants and answered by DETI or GSNI will be shared with all applicants. This Q&A material will be updated regularly.

Underpinning legislation

The Petroleum (Production) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964

The Petroleum Production Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987

(Please note that the 1987 Regulations have been amended by the Petroleum Production (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 – see below. In particular, regulations 2 and 3 (applications for licences) and Schedule 1 (form of application for a licence) have been substituted and substantial amendments have been made to Schedule 2 (model clauses).  

The Petroleum Production (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

The Hydrocarbons Licensing Directive Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

Technical information

Information on Northern Ireland's prospectivity, exploration data and publications can be viewed on the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland website.