Energy Bill – Committee Stage report

The Energy Bill has passed through the House of Lords and had its Second Reading in the House of Commons on 18 January 2016. The Bill was debated in Public Bill Committee between 26 January and 4 February 2016.

The Bill mostly deals with fully establishing a new regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), and how it regulates oil and gas companies in the UK’s territorial waters. It implements recommendations of the Wood Review on Maximising the Economic Recovery of Petroleum from the UK’s Continental Shelf (UKCS). In so doing it would formally establish the OGA as an independent regulator and transfer a number of functions to it from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

A number of significant amendments were made in the Public Bill Committee:

•  A Clause that changed the ‘principal objective’ of Maximising the Economic Recovery of oil and gas was removed; 
• The time between OGA performance reviews was lengthened;
• The Government re-introduced a Clause on the closure of the renewables obligation on 31 March 2016;
• A Clause to adjust performance measure used in the carbon budgets was removed.

Further information on the Bill, including links to other research briefings, earlier versions of the Bill, explanatory notes and links to debates, can be found on the bill page.

The following links may also be useful:

• The Government’s page on the Wood Review
• Library Briefing on UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industries
• Library Briefing on Oil Prices